


The Moon Fortress

by 93Mika



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Angst, Conspiracy, Daxam, Dominators, F/M, Interplanetary Travel, KaraMel, Krypton, Original Character(s), Secret Organizations, Slavery, Slow Burn, Spaceships, Spies & Secret Agents, Undercover Missions, intergalactic travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-08
Updated: 2018-02-12
Packaged: 2018-11-29 09:06:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 46,169
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11437641
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/93Mika/pseuds/93Mika
Summary: In an Alternate Universe where Krypton and Daxam were never destroyed, undercover agent Kara Zor-El is on her journey to help the galaxy becoming a safer place starting with her first mission on Daxam - A dangerous world of hedonists and slavery ruled by tyrants that seem to be always plotting against Kryptonians. Will she be able to find out in time what "The Beasts" are up to and stop them?





	1. Millions of Miles Apart

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone! I'm new around here. I've been reading a lot of works and learned a lot from you guys! You are all awesome and I really appreciate everyone's writings.  
> This is my very first Supergirl fanfiction and I'm pretty excited to share it with you! I've been working on it for a few months and have tried to put my best skills at story telling in it! I really hope you like it.

Thirteen year old Kara Zor-El looked out onto the Argo city skyline from her bedroom window as Rao was setting. She gazed pass the flying pods to the darker parts of the sky – the stars just starting to slowly appear – as she tried to find the constellations, just as her aunt Astra had taught her. A particularly bright red star caught her eye, and she easily recognized that it was not a star, but in fact the planet Daxam. Their infamous sister planet which she had never been to. Kara often wondered about Daxam, what the people there were really like, if they were as terrible as people described them to be, or if she would ever one day set foot on the planet. She remembered her studies clearly on the bloody history of wars between their planets, how the vengeance and anger had never fully disappeared, even after hundreds of years, Daxam was ruled by obnoxious tyrants while Krypton was proud and prosperous by its unshakable democracy.

Or so she believed. She was deep in thought when she heard her mother calling her.

“Kara. Why are you still awake, dear?”

“Mother! I was just looking at the stars.”

Her mother was in her formal dress uniform as a judge. Clearly she had just returned home. Kara fondly took in her majestic sight and deeply sighed with proud. She really wished she could be as brave and strong as her mother was someday. She moved towards her and hugged her firmly, taking in her scent, and Alura rubbed Kara’s back kindly in return. They stayed that way for a while, until Alura let go of her to look at her face.

“Something on your mind, daughter of mine?”

Kara bit her lower lip deciding whether to ask her questions or leave them. She took a deep breath before letting herself ask a question.

“Mother, why do we never go to Daxam? Are we still enemies?”

Her mother sighed and walked to sit on the edge of Kara’s bed. She didn’t say anything for a while, and Kara thought she wouldn’t answer her, but kept waiting until Alura looked towards the window before looking at her daughter.

“No Kara, we are not enemies anymore, but old wounds are hard to heel. A wrong move and we would stumble back to more bloodlust and destruction. We do not fight anymore, but we keep our distance.”

Her mother answered patiently as Kara moved to sit next to her.

“I wonder what it really looks like on Daxam.”Kara exclaimed. Her mother caressed her hair and smiled.

“There are lots of pictures in the Archives. You can look at them next time you go there with your father.”

Kara nodded excitedly as a list of ideas and questions were forming in her mind. Alura saw Kars’s eyes light up with curiosity.

“Kara dear, it’s time to sleep. You don’t want to feel tired in the morning for your classes.” Her mother urged her under the bed sheets and Kara reluctantly crawled under them, but couldn’t stop herself from asking one last question.

“Mother, are there still kings and queens on Daxam?”

Alura rolled her eyes, but answered nevertheless. “Yes. Currently King Lar Gand and Queen Rhea rule Daxam.”

“Do they have Princes or Princesses too?” Kara saw her mother was getting impatient therefore she negotiated. “I swear I won’t ask any more questions.”

Alura smiled, kissed her forehead. “Yes Kara. As a matter of fact the king and queen have a son, and before you ask I don’t know his name and age. “

Kara accepted her answer and didn’t press for more information just like she promised. “Good night mother.”

Alura dimmed the lights in her room as she was leaving her room. “Good night Kara. Sleep well my little star.”

Kara stirred to her left side and though her eyes were shut, her mind kept fantasizing about Kings and Queens and how wonderful it must be to live in a palace with huge ballrooms and fancy dresses. She dozed off, wondering what this mysterious prince would look like and what was he doing right now.

*

Millions of miles away on Daxam, the so called Prince, despite Kara’s assumptions, was not having a good time at all. Prince Mon-El, who had just turned fourteen in the previous week, listened tiredly through the half closed door to her parents’ bedroom while they were arguing yet again. He wasn’t that close to his parents, as he found both of them to be intimidating – especially his mother. He was so sick of the endless fights at night time, arguments that were mostly about politic disagreement, something Mon-El loathed and never understood.

Unlike what many believed, Mon-El’s parents seemed like they couldn’t care less about their only son, the prince. He craved for their acknowledgment and encouragement, something that he sadly thought would never receive from them. Every day he felt he was getting farther and farther away from them, filling his time with mindless games and parties with his friends. Although they called themselves his ‘friends’, Mon-El knew they cared more about his wealth and position as the crowned prince, but at least they pretended that they liked and cared about him.

He was walking down the hall to his bedroom when he passed by his parents royal chambers. The door wasn’t closed and Mon-El heard their raised voices, involuntarily stopping to listen since this argument seemed more serious than most (if their hostile tones were any indication).

“Rhea you cannot possibly be thinking about this! This is madness! I needed this budget to buy cargo ships for exporting and traveling! Why did you use it before discussing it with me?”

“You have no sense of greatness, Lar! Your mind is small!”

“HOW DARE YOU!? You confuse greatness with bloodlust! You think our people need more of that? How many families will lose their sons before you understand that war is not what our people need!?”

“It is only your stupidity that makes you this stubborn! I am the daughter of the late king and I know what makes the people of Daxam strong and proud! They need to remember the way our ancestors built our nation! “

“You’re wrong! What our people need is to work with other planets, to trade with them, not to conquer them! This is all because you’ve been talking with that Dominator’s ambassador! They have brainwashed you with their fancy weapons and you gave them all the money without hesitation like a child!

From his place next to the door frame, Mon-El as someone, probably his mother, punched a table. The sound made him jump a bit at his place.

“I WILL NOT HAVE YOU INSULT ME LIKE THAT, LAR! You disappoint me! If you keep thinking like that you will dishonor our gods!”

Mother answered father with venom in her voice. Mon-El shivered a bit at her tone and silently shifted towards the open slit of the door and secretly peered at his parents with nervousness, trying not to attract any attention to himself. His parents were standing tensely six feet apart with clenched fists glaring at each other dressed in their formal royal dark gowns and robes. His father sighed with frustration.

“Rhea, the world has changed. You cannot go that long before losing everything with waging war on weaker worlds and claiming them. Nothing good will come from that. What are you going to do when they defy us? How much more money can you offer those treacherous Dominators before they stab us in the back and leave us defenseless? We already have powerful enemies like Krypton. What happens if they side with them?”

“Kryptonians are very easy to read and I can manipulate them. And as for the dominators, they are too dependent on us for their slaves and merchandise. They will not turn against us. It is not in their best interest.”

The queen scowled, like this matter should have been clear as day. She then turned her back to her husband, showing her unwillingness to continue the conversation and moved to stand in front of the mirror, putting down her tiara on its place on a table. She looked at herself in the mirror, shining with arrogance all the while.

Mon-El often feared Rhea’s cold gaze. Sometimes when she would smile, Mon-El could see how it never reached her eyes and he wondered why she was like that.

“And if they don’t play to your game?” His father demanded. Mon-El shifted to look at him, who was still standing at the same place, never once taking his eyes off his wife. Mon-El looked back at his mother, seeing her glance at her husband in the mirror with a raised brow.

“You underestimate the power of my judgment and intelligence, Lar. Those petty projects of yours, will just form Daxam into another failed world with a broken economy. They will never work, and I will not have Daxam fall so low. We do not beg. We claim!” Rhea answered firmly and without any more words she walked towards the inner bedroom of their private chambers, leaving the king alone to fume over an unresolved discussion.

Mon-El waited a bit longer, watching his father put his hands on his hips, looking at the floor in front of his boots. Mon-El chewed on his lip and tip-toed away from the door, before dragging himself heavily to his own room. He went straight to the balcony. The warm breeze of nightfall greeted him and ruffled his short dark hair. Taking a deep breath, Mon-El contemplated the things he had just heard. Was there going to be a war? Who was right? Do Daxmites really need to prove themselves to other races constantly? To seem great and powerful in their eyes? Mon-El often dreamed of becoming the army general, going to wars, fighting enemies in his shining armor with a mighty refile in hand. Proving his wits and power to his people. And more importantly, his parents.

He dreamed of the day he would become the King, hearing the people cheer him and shout his name, praising “Long Live King Mon-El!”

Tonight though for the first time, he thought what if his father was right. What if some aliens came to their planet and he had to watch hopelessly as buildings crumbled and his parents and the people he knew died? His mined raced with worry as he looked at his city skyline and the flickering lights. He could hear a faint cry from somewhere behind the tall palace walls. He had become familiar with such sounds. The slaves would cry into the night. After dark, when their ruthless owners would sleep, they would hide out in the shadows and cry over their cursed fate.

Mon-El closed his eyes for a moment as his heart clenched at this unfairness which he had no power to correct, before he gazed into the cloudless sky filled with stars. He wasn’t looking for anything in particular as he searched with his grayish blue eyes and stopped on the glowing blue star. Although he didn’t know much about the stars, Mon-El knew enough to recognize that this bright object was in fact Krypton. After what he had heard about Kryptonians tonight from father, he was shocked. Mon-El always thought Kryptonians were gullible and snobs, not self-righteous and intelligent fighters. He was amazed that father actually feared them. Then again, what would he know? He skipped classes sometimes and never paid attention to history. Mon-El heard another cry for help as he kept his eyes on Krypton. He wondered what was it like on Krypton – what was it like to live in tall towers with shiny silver pods zooming around, everything clean and in order without any poverty or hunger. Were they truly happy in their Utopia?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So what do you think?!  
> I have to admit that English isn't my first language and if you see problems in the writing, my lack of knowledge is to blame. I would be glad to improve my writing with your help. Do not hesitate to tell me in the comment section your thoughts!  
> I will try to update weekly!  
> You can find me on tumblr here: https://themoonfortress.tumblr.com/
> 
> And a BIG thank you to @Sunflower_Nation for helping me edit this! Love you! I can never thank you enough XOXO


	2. Stand Your Ground

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kara's journey continues...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! hope you're having a nice Monday ;)  
> I know I said I would update weekly but this chapter is rather short and I want to get through the first few chapters more quickly so that you guys get to the more interesting and angsty parts sooner!  
> so here we go!

Kara climbed the stairs – leading her to the halls where the most important decisions on Krypton were made. Her heart beat faster and faster as she got closer to the room where she would be interviewed for her future career.

Kara felt as if her whole life had been about this day.

She took a deep breath and tried to brace herself. KAra had to show her best today. As she was walking through the last hallway, she thought about the past years and how she got to where she was now.

After Kara’s excitement about Daxam on that night, she went to the Archives with her father (just as her mother had suggested), reading and watching all she could.

Kara even read enthusiastically about the royal prince who was named Mon-El, but after becoming more familiar with Daxam, she concluded that their sister world was complete opposite of everything Krypton stood for, and gradually her interest in seeing that place faded.

 Instead, Kara found a new voice in her heart.

As Kara watched pictures of slaves and homeless children in the wake of recent wars, her heart was broken to see this level of carnage in the galaxy, by the hands of cruel Daxamites and other races such as Dominators.

From that day on, Kara decided that she would do anything in her power to make the galaxy a better place.

Therefore after graduating from her studies at eighteen, Kara worked closely at her mother’s side until she turned twenty. After all the time she had spent watching the law, enforcing peace and keeping her home world safe, she also noticed how limited it was.

 Kara slowly became aware of the underground networks in the galaxy that answered to no law and could conflict pain and misery anywhere they went. She followed the news of their latest activities with fire in her veins as she yearned to do something to put an end to their existence. And that was when Kara realized she could never be just like her mother – simply staying in a room and deciding the fate of petty thieves and criminals – while there were much bigger threats out there and she got attracted to the secret services in the government. Some organizations Kara suspected her aunt Astra most probably was involved with.

Kara always thought Astra was an army general, but she still remembered her talking about bad people whom her mother could never stop. One day when Kara was sixteen, Astra stopped coming to their house and to her shock, Kara’s mother explained to her with sad eyes that Astra and her husband Non had committed treason and were both sentenced to Fort Rozz.

Aunt Astra had always been the closest person Kara had, next to her parents, her knowledge about the universe and experiences always amazed Kara, and when she was forced to leave, Kara felt her heart broke.

She always felt Astra’s absence in her life. She was a special person to Kara and she could never forget her and couldn’t bring herself to believe even for a second that her aunt had committed a crime against her people.

Kara had asked her mother about the exact reason why her aunt had to pay such a high toll, but never received a clear answer. Once, while she was working as her mother’s apprentice, Kara used her code to access the files on Astra and Non, only to be denied access since the cases were classified for her. Kara asked and pressed her mother again after that, but her mother uncharacteristically refused to answer her with an angry tone and ordered Kara to stop looking for the details on the cases immediately. All these led Kara to doubt the Kryptonian justice system so much so, that she even sometimes questioned her mother’s judgment.

Kara’s decision to join the army after two years studying law, of course caused a rift between her and her parents. Since they always wanted Kara to walk in her mother’s footsteps or at least join her father in the science guild, hearing Kara’s decision on joining the army like her condemned aunt, truly shocked them.

Despite their best reasoning, Kara didn’t back from her ambition and though they stopped arguing after a while, the disagreement remained.

As much as it hurt her to see herself at cross with two most important people in her life and the fact that she had to keep a lot of things from them, she stood her ground and after three years serving in the military with top marks, she was being interviewed to be recruited into a higher level in their army and government.

Kara stood before the closed door, swallowing hard. Sending a quick prayer the Rao, she opened the door with a slightly trembling hand, walking in with a raised chin and firm lips.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this was Kara's story and how she becomes who she's supposed to be.  
> Personally I think justice systems can be completely powerless in face of some evils going on in the world and this was reflected in Kara's thought.  
> Next chapter will be Mon-El's point of view ;)  
> see you on Sunday!
> 
> I have also created a tumblr account for this fic where I would post pictures and aesthetics that were inspiring to me!  
> you can find me at : https://themoonfortress.tumblr.com/


	3. No More

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What happened to Mon-El, while Kara was finding her way in life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Sunday!  
> So here is the chapter in Mon-El's POV, as I promised.

Prince Mon-El was on the balcony again. This time though, he didn’t seem as conflicted as that night many years ago. The sky was covered with thick clouds, making the night much darker, just like the clothes he was wearing. He was determined – despite the fear in his heart, Mon-El had made his mind this night. He gripped the railing for a moment and let his mind go back, reminding himself why he was here right now.

The fear of losing all he had in war and the intense empathy he felt for the poor and slaves didn’t last that long on Mon-El’s mind after that night – he knew well how to distract himself. He let go of the feelings of burden mostly because he had no one to share them with, and also, he had no saying in any matter. Talking about the justice issues of Daxam with his family and with others was forbidden, leaving Mon-El with no choice but to let it all slide.

By the age of nineteen, the handsome prince was most famous for his unforgettable parties and memorable nights with girls. Deep inside though, he still felt unsettled and unhappy no matter what he did. Whenever he was alone, Mon-El loathed himself for his uselessness. He knew in his parents’ eyes he was a pawn that they wanted to control. He wasn’t supposed to have any opinions of his own, and his only duty was to do exactly as they instructed.

Mon-El’s childhood dream of becoming the beloved king Mon-El had long been forgotten, along with his wishes to learn martial arts, which was easily ignored by his mother. She thought a better use of her son’s time should involve learning various strategies and political tactics, leaving the action to their trusted royal guards. Mon-El was forced to watch as ship after ship filled with soldiers left Daxam, to locations his mother had chosen. He knew for a fact that his father had decided to keep quiet about it all, since Lar knew he couldn’t get through to his wife with words, to put a stop to colonizing and manipulate weaker planets. Even in his distracting life as a playboy, Mon-El heard about the awful condition in some parts of Daxam were subject to, and sometimes when he went for a stroll in the city, he saw the terrible treatment of the slaves – whipping them into obedience, deny them simplest rights such as having a spouse or children, punish them for smallest mistakes and sometimes even killing them for being an annoyance. Mon-El himself could never bring himself to act with such brutality against the poor souls. The slaves and servants in the palace knew Mon-El for his kindness towards them and would do anything for him – something that enraged his mother. He pitied the slaves gravely and never supported men who had a hand in slave smugglings.

It was no wonder then, that the broken system – where the rich only grew wealthier and the poor became weaker by the day – had led to uprisings and small riots among slaves. Unfortunately, they stood against the power of his mother, who could easily silence them with severe punishments, or even public executions. Mon-El feared the future.

Left feeling hopeless, Mon-El thought it would go like this forever. But the night before his twenty first birthday, while he had planned for a huge ceremony, his father surprised him by coming into his room and requested to talk to him. (Something he couldn’t remember had ever happening before.) The pair both sat on the expensive sofas in front of the elaborate fireplace in Mon-El’s room.

He noticed his father looked troubled and pale, avoided Mon-El’s eyes as they sat there quietly for a while. The only sound in the room was the crackling of fire, which kept the room warm in the colder seasons. King Lar Gand laced his fingers together and leaned his elbows on his knees, staring at the fire before turning to look at his son, who was observing him with waiting eyes.

“Son… there is some things I need to tell you…”

The king finally began with a hoarse voice, making Mon-El even more worried. He leaned forward showing that he was all ears. The king looked at his prince quizzically for a moment as if to question he had made the right decision when he continued.

“Next week we are hosting the royal family of Byrnian. It will be mostly about assuring them of our alliance with them and we need you to be there.”

Mon-El didn’t like where this was going but didn’t say anything while his father continued.

“The daughter of Byrnian monarchy is going to be here and we need you to keep her company for a few days.”

Mon-El was getting more upset as the possibilities crossed his mind. “Father what are you suggesting?” His eyes widened, and his father almost frowned at him, changing from its previous indifferences.

“Son, we need you to marry the Byrnian princess as a part of our union. This shall strengthen our relationship with them and increase the wealth of our nation.”

Mon-El was beyond shocked. He couldn’t form a sentence in his mind to reject this offer as quickly as he wanted to. In all the years he was forced to obey his parents, Mon-El didn’t imagine they would go as far as forcing him to marry someone. He knew in Daxam’s culture latch marriages were normal. But as the prince, he always believed that he would have the privilege to choose his own mate. Otherwise, what good being a prince was for?

He looked furiously at his father and for a moment he saw a flash of sorrow on his face.

“Mon-El, I know this is unexpected and difficult, but you have a duty to Daxam as the crowned prince. “

Mon-El couldn’t take the talk of arranged marriage anymore, bolting up to walk a few steps away, before exploding.

“Is that my duty? Or is this you trying to make up for the empty vaults and the enemies waiting to enact their revenge us? Why am I the one who has to pay for all that you and mother do?! Do you even care about what I want?!”

Glaring at his father, Mon-El clenched his fists, shaking from his effort to keep his raging wrath under control. Emotions bottled up for years billowed just beneath the surface, causing his chest to feel like flames. His father also stood up from his place and held his hand up, asking him to calm down.

“Son, please. I know this is too much to ask of you, but you have to understand the situation isn’t good. If you refuse to do this, Daxam will lose a great ally and a lot of people will have to pay for it.”

“Since when do _you_ care about the people?” Mon-El gritted his teeth and immediately saw how hard the words struck his father. Lar Gand’s face turned red as his eyes glowed with anger.

Mon-El wasn’t sure how long they stayed locking eyes with one another before his father finally spoke.

“You are too immature to understand. I will not tolerate you talking like this to your father and your king! You will do as I say, and later, you will realize this is for the better!”

And with that, Mon-El watched as his father turned sharply to leave the room.

His heart dropped as felt a lump forming in his throat. His father was half way through the door when Mon-El stopped him with a hushed voice. “Then why don’t you make me realize now?”

The king gripped the golden doorknob so hard that his knuckles turned white, turning to look at Mon-El. His expression was not one of anger he was expecting, instead, his father seemed…sad.

“One day you will understand.”

Lar held his son’s gaze for a few more seconds and Mon-El felt like his father wanted to say more. But he just nodded and left. Mon-El stood where he was for a long time before going on the balcony, feeling out of breath from all the emotions inside him. The cold and dry weather did little for him. He closed his eyes and let out a long breath, before opening them to see his breath swirling in a white smoke before him. He thought maybe with his party tomorrow night, he could forget everything for at least a day.

 

 

*

Mon-El couldn’t have be more wrong. His twenty first birthday was one of the worst days of his life. Ditching his own party extremely early, he didn’t even glance at the pretty girls the way he usually did, and to his utter disappointment and also relief, no one even noticed he was gone. His guests were far too drunk and distracted to even notice his absence.

Mon-El walked through the empty gardens on his own for hours to think, but kept getting more upset. It was getting late, so he decided to speak with his mother before she called it a night. He passed by the halls in which his so called ‘friends’ were having the time of their lives, the music was loud and obnoxious. Halting behind the door to the gathering room his mother usually spend time in, Mon-El was so upset that he walked in without knocking.

“Mother I need to speak with – “

He announced but stopped when he saw his mother wasn’t alone as expected. She was standing in front of her golden throne in her usual black gown, handing something small to an unfamiliar man. He thought he saw a flash of a small green object in between their hands. He didn’t care what was happening, but Mon-El didn’t like it when the short dark haired man hid the object in his sleeve in a flurry and unreadable face, before he hurried past Mon-El to leave the room, without even nodding to his prince.

His mother looked at him with her cold eyes and motioned her hand for him to come closer. If she was angry about being interrupted she didn’t say anything, just sitting on her throne gracefully.

“How can I help you, son?”

Mon-El swallowed – his mouth was dry from spending hours away from drinks in the cold. Also, he wasn’t sure how to open the conversation. He licked his lips, before starting. “Father told me last night about this latched marriage you have planned for me.”

The queen smoothed her clothes and sighed. “Let me guess, you are against this decision?” Rhea’s face was tired, as Mon-El watched her in disbelief.

“Of course I am mother! Am I not going to have any say in such important matter involving my life? Shouldn’t I have the right to marry someone I- “

“Love?” His mother wrinkled her nose as if disgusted. Mon-El watched as his mother stood up.

“There is no such thing as love Mon-El. I am disappointed that you even think of such childish things. I thought you were past these fairy tales.”

Mon-El could hear his heartbeat in his ears as blood roared to his face at her words. After how his conversation went last night with his father, he decided to hold his tongue for the hope of getting through to his mother with reasoning.

“I’m not that ignorant. This is my life too. Are you telling me to let you decide everything for me, while I’m an adult?”

“You may be an adult but you are still too young. Don’t be so upset, Mon-El, we all have lived and married liked this for centuries. A marriage is just another duty you perform. Don’t fool yourself with such nonsense as love.”

“Are you saying that you don’t love father?”

 The Queen didn’t even smile or frown at his question, which was scarier than anything else he had experienced. He felt even colder than he felt the in the gardens.

“No. we are partners and you should start hardening yourself too Mon-El. I can’t have you this soft and emotional as the next leader of our nation. Your only concern should be the growth and success of Daxam in the galaxy.”

Mon-El couldn’t believe her words and was rendered speechless. He felt his heart broke at the sight of his mother’s emotionless eyes. “But mother – “

His mother turned her back to him, much like how she had walked away from his father on that night many years ago.

“Stop this right now Mon-El! Go to your chambers and act like a true prince! I will not tolerate such defiance of our commands. You will marry the daughter of Byrnian King to join our power and army with theirs. Now leave.”

Mon-El felt his eyes sting and blinked quickly as he glared at his mother’s back, before he stormed out of the room without saying anything more. His heart wouldn’t stop booming in his ribcage. And e thumped up the stairs as he went to his room.

As much as it made him angry to do exactly as his mother said, his room was the only place he could be alone right now. He smashed vases and broke a chair in his rage. That night he didn’t sleep at all.

 

 

*

The Byrnian princess was just like any other Byrnian he had seen. Ginger hair, brown eyes, and a lot shorter than he was – very mediocre and boring. Mon-El offered his hand to her just as custom dictated and guided her throughout the palace, before wandering the gardens, without even bothering to speak to her.

He was wearing a very serious face the whole time, bitterly thinking maybe his mother had finally succeeded turning him into herself. The frustration in him hadn’t reduced and he hadn’t spoken a word with his parents since then. He didn’t throw any more parties in the past week, which was a record on his history books and everyone gossiped about him getting ready for a wedding.

When their guests arrived a week later He stood silently by his parents to greet them and they told him to give the princess a tour of the palace. She was cladded in a white dress and despite Mon-El’s cold expression, she was happy to hold his hand a bit too firmly, giggling and speaking to him like she didn’t notice he wasn’t even listening to her.

That three days seemed endless and empty for Mon-El and he had never hated his life more. The wedding was set to happen in exactly one month on Daxam. This one month was, according to Byrnian culture, an important time for the bride to become ready for her marriage and although it was a relief to Mon-El to have one more month of his normal life, upset his mother for the delay.

A few days after Byrnians had left, Mon-El found himself at the gardens lonely again. It was odd for him to spend this much time alone, but it was like he couldn’t be around anyone anymore. He even stopped having meals with his parents. He ate alone in his room and though it could be considered an insult to the king and queen, they didn’t protest. It was dark and very late and he felt tired and stiff from walking in endless circles around the red and purple plants in the cold. He walked to his room, the same route he had gone for the past days. He was passing his father’s study in the dark hallway, when he heard a clear sound of glass shattering – cutting through the quiet as the sound echoed. The door was only an inch open and a yellow beam of light brightened the floor against the wall in a slim stripe. Mon-El was about to ignore it, deciding it didn’t seem that important, but following the sound he heard someone chocking and coughing violently. He rushed and opened the door, seeing his father was kneeling on the floor clutching his throat, a broken wine glass was in front of him. Mon-El dropped beside his father while he put a hand around his shoulders.

“Father! What’s wrong?”

Not getting any answers but only more coughs, Mon-El wanted to get up and run to call for help. But his father gripped his wrist so hard like his life depended on it – and maybe it did – and made Mon-El stop. Lar looked into his son’s frightened eyes and coughed, speaking with great effort.

“Mon…el… for…forgive…me…”

Mon-El felt his eyes welling up. He tried to comfort his father with a shaken voice. “Stop father! Let me go get you help!”

King Lar Gand shook his head as if he was mustering all the power he had, and brought his other hand up to caress his son’s hair, whispering so low that Mon-El had to bring his ear to his father’s mouth to catch the words.

“Run… she will not let you….stop her… Run to the west… behind the … Grindel… at dawn… find Damo… save Dax…”

The words seem meaningless to Mon-El, jumbled and incoherent. But he took in every single one of them, because he knew these were his last words. Before his father could say any more, a seizure took him over and Mon-El started shouting for help as tears rolled down his face, and his father became motionless in his arms. Mon-El shook him, begging him to stay awake. The blurry eyes of his father kept staring at him, as the last of his life drained from them.

“I… love …you…son…”

Lar’s eyes closed. And Mon-El had no time to grieve as servants came into the room and moved the king to the royal physician’s court.

He didn’t need anyone to tell him what had happened. His eyes stopped on the broken glass and spilled wine. His father had been poisoned. The rage inside him filled his entire being like a volcano as Mon-El wiped his tears away and stood on shaky legs with only vengeance on his mind. He wanted to find the killer. He stormed out breathing heavily as new tears threatened to spill.

He walked fast to get to his mother, guessing she might be in her bedroom, completely unaware of this devastation. Mon-El had just turned down the hallway when he saw someone lurking in the shadows, and tackled him without thinking. Everything about this smelled suspicion. He saw him as the killer and as they rolled with each other into the light, he saw his face. He was there that night with his mother. This man had received something from her. Mon-El began to harshly search his clothes and he found it in his sleeve – the small sick green bottle.

His mind had gone blank and his hands became numb as the truth hit him. In that moment of weakness, the culprit shoved Mon-El off, before springing up and started running away. Mon-El remained on the floor, his whole body shivering without his consent.   

The funeral was everything everyone imagined. Majestic, filled with heart breaking and epic speeches, and flowing tears. He stood there by his mother never speaking a word. It was as if the world had stopped and everything had crumbled. He didn’t shed a tear, didn’t look up, and he stopped thinking altogether. It was as if he had died with his father that night.

They announced that one of their “enemies” had poisoned the king and they were searching nonstop to find the killer. The irony was so high that he wanted to laugh manically. He didn’t forget what his father told him with his last breath and after a while, those mysterious words and his admission that he loved Mon-El, for both the first and last time, were the only thing he lived for. He clung to them with dear life, repeating them in his mind over and over and started wandering to west to find out what Grindel was.

There wasn’t much time left for him now, with only a few days ahead to his wedding. He had to do something or he would have to enter a life with a girl whose name he couldn’t even remember. The queen hadn’t even postponed the ceremony one day, even after the loss of her husband. This was a trap. This was his doom which his mother had planned for him and his father was warning him about.

Two days before his wedding, Mon-El stood before the statue of “Grindel the Great” as Rao was about to light Daxam. There was no one else around in this early hours, except for a few lying figures of slaves or beggars with ragged and filthy clothes, lying against the walls in sand. They were sleeping and weak from hunger.

Mon-El was wearing a black cloak over his royal uniform, to keep it from attracting too much attention. Keeping still and waiting to see what will happen, he finally he saw a figure approaching. He braced himself and felt for his small gun under the robe. He had found Damo.

And Damo was the reason he was standing on the balcony this night. Damo was his father’s contact in the rebellions. It made sense that his mother had killed him if she had found out about his secret activities with the rebels. And when Mon-El went with Damo to one of their secret layers, they showed him all that was wrong with Daxam and all his mother had done. They gave him a place by themselves and a chance to fix all that was wrong with his nation. And that was when Mon-El made up his mind. He found his purpose in life. And it was as if he could feel it to his bones.

Mon-El looked up one more time at the city lights and took in the sight before him. It was time to leave this place. He wasn’t sure he would ever be able to come back, but he wouldn’t miss it, at least, not for a while. He adjusted his belt and made sure his knife was securely hidden on his back then checked his watch. After exactly one minute, the guards changed their shift, allowing Mon-El to take off and leave the palace in shadows without anyone noticing.

Prince Mon-El was no more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I totally broke Mon-El's heart, didn't I?  
> So how was this chapter?! Are you interested to know more?  
> A special thank you to my SuperFriend @pasifiction :) without her this fic would've stayed just an idea!
> 
> A HUGE thank you to @Sunflower_Nation for editing my writings! LOVE U XOXO you're an AMAZING mentor! I have a surprise for you in chapter 6! ;) Muhahah
> 
> Also, I have to mention "Love Reset" by @KaramelHaven is such a FANTASTIC story and although this chapter seems a bit similar to her AU, I wrote it before reading her fic. I've enjoyed what she has built tremendously! 
> 
> @KaramelHaven, @Sunflower_Nation and so many others, You guys are KaraMel fandom Kings and Queens. I bow to you.
> 
> Take care and I see you next Sunday xoxo
> 
> you can find me on tumblr: https://themoonfortress.tumblr.com


	4. First Mission

The underground passage was dark as Kara walked through it confidently with quick steps. She couldn’t see anything, as her eyes hadn’t adjusted yet, but the way was carved into her memory.

For the past two years, she had been coming to this secret facility to train for her missions. Kara had become an agent for the Kryptonian secret organization called “SKIS” – which meant “eye” in Kryptonese.

SKIS had been created to observe the suspicious activities in the galaxy, and to detect any kind of harm which would have stayed hidden to other normal and diplomatic methods – such as monitoring programs by Enforcers (Kryptonian military units that were legally situated on some other planets, providing safety and order, with the consent of the governing power in those regions.)

In other words, SKIS was Krypton’s third eye, where Enforcers could not be

Kara Zor-El had clearly announced her devotion and determination on the day of her interview. After just one week, one of the army liaisons approached with an offer for her, to serve as an agent in an organization.

Kara pondered on the offer, eventually accepting it. This was her chance to finally play a more active role in revealing the truth and seeking justice for the victims of the underground networks of criminals and smugglers – like the alien trafficking.

In her wild dreams, Kara saw a day when she would find a way to exonerate her aunt Astra and set her free.

Through the past two years, Kara had learned to speak in some of the popular tongues of the galaxy, had trained in martial arts with the best fighters in their army, and had been on three missions – under the supervision of a higher ranked agent.

Every one of Kara’s superiors were satisfied with her progress. Her parents though, were still uneasy. They wouldn’t complain, but she read worry in their faces. They had accepted her way and she was grateful for their understanding.

Kara was wondering when her training would be over in these days, until she received an alarm for a meeting on her spy beacon.

Funnily enough, her aunt had given her a very similar gadget years ago to contact her. The one her mother confiscated right before she sentenced her own sister, to spend her days in the cold and dark space of the Phantom Zone forever.

Kara had turned off the alarm and rushed to the meeting.

As she was getting closer to the room she was summoned to, Kara wondered if they were going to send her on another mission with another superior agent. She flashed her badge to the door, waiting as the high tech device in front of her did a complete body scan before letting her in with a robotic voice. “S52, access granted”.

There were three people waiting for her, and Kara’s eyes widened as she saw both of her superiors she worked under in her time in SKIS, sitting in the room. Of course these weren’t the highest people in the organization (as the directors’ identities had been remained secret from first rankers such as herself.)

There was also a woman sitting on the last chair to the left. She had shoulder length brown hair and brown sharp eyes, looking at Kara with a warm smile on her face. She was Alex Chy-Lee – a more experienced agent who had worked with Kara since her first day at SKIS.

Every initiate in SKIS were assigned to a more experienced agent. Alex was the person who taught Kara the most important skills and lessons, and although she was only three year older than Kara, she was one of the best agents.

Alex was her mentor and her best friend. They had completed two short missions together, and mostly, it was out on missions assigned to Alex, that Kara had learned the most from over the past two years.

About seven months ago, Alex informed Kara that she was going on a special mission – one Kara hadn’t obtained enough clearance to be allowed to know the details. Alex explained, she wasn’t sure when she would be back, and during that time, Kara missed her greatly, sometimes worrying about her safety. But she also believed in Alex deeply. They had said goodbye, and after all that time, suddenly she was sitting right in frony of her, making Kara’s heart swell to see her fovourite agent in one piece.

Kara saluted and stood still for a moment before a man waved his hand to her, and she took the only empty seat in front of the others. The man sitting directly in front of her was Major Dar-An. Major looked at the hologram device in his hands that was projecting the details of her profile for a while, before speaking.

“Kara Zor-El, congratulations. You have successfully completed your phase of training.”

Kara felt her heart soar with happiness. She didn’t expect to be fully accepted into SKIS at all, though she _was_ hoping for it, to be honest. She nodded firmly and enthusiastically at him. Major tapped at the hologram, changing it to another page, while opening his fingers on the small cubic hologram to enlarge it, and then he put the cube on the table.

Now everyone could see the 3D contents clearly. The woman sitting next to Major Dar-An leaned forward – she had blond short hair and a long nose, wearing a brown uniform and the signs on her chest that showed she was a Lieutenant. Lieutenant Lora-Di.

Unlike the army and all the other departments in the society – where everyone’s uniform had their family logo printed on their left shoulder over their heart – in this organization, no one wore their family symbol. She knew who these people were, but she had sworn to never disclose any kind of knowledge to outsiders.

“Today you will receive your first assignment. Your first mission.” Lieutenant Lora Di-Kan looked at Kara with an expression that meant business.

Kara tried to look equally serious while inside she was vibrating with joy. “Yes ma’am.”

Kara threw a glance at Alex quickly, and saw the brunette looking at her smugly. She then returned her attention to the hologram and waited to be briefed.

Lieutenant Lora pointed to a picture on the hologram. “During last year, we have received Intel on one of the intergalactic mobs known as the _Beasts,_ working on something on planet Daxam. “

The pictures changed as she spoke, showing different faces from different races. The pictures had relatively good quality and were obviously taken with superior technology to avoid blowing their taker’s cover. Kara tried to memorize their faces. She was good with faces and her photographic memory was one her advantages that made her good at her job.

The pictures moved to some locations. The last one, a hangar. Kara saw some damaged spaceships in it. It must have been an old abandoned hangar or one used to repair ships, the perfect place to land and go unnoticed. To prove her speculations right, the Lieutenant continued.

“This is one of the hangers they use to commute to Daxam. This particular one is located in their capital city, Telos. We also have knowledge of some meetings between the Beasts and some of the royalties and elites, which makes it a potential threat and we need to know what exactly they are up to, and stay ahead of them. It is not completely clear how deep this goes into their system but we conclude that even the queen is involved, and that means weapons. We need confirmation on this matter and we need to know what kind of weaponry they are preparing. We need an undercover agent to infiltrate the rebellions. The Rebels have the best chance to get close to the royalty and to the mobs at the same time. Agent Alex Chy-Lee has been on this mission on Daxam. She has the first hand information about the current situation on Daxam.”

The lieutenant turned and looked at Alex. Alex leaned forward and cleared her throat. She looked at Kara first, and then with her strong and familiar voice, continued to explain the situation on Daxam.

“I’ve been on Daxam for the past seven months, observing their people, and have made a lot of connections with different members of Rebellion. The Rebels are very spread out, and have a lot of disagreement among themselves. That’s the main reason why they can’t actually be a threat to the regime. Most of them are escaped slaves, or are from other planets but have been stranded on Daxam. There doesn’t seem to be any influential individuals among them. The only high ranking undercover rebels I’m aware of, are two sodiers in the royal guard and a few palace servants. From my time there, I learned they have confirmed that about five years ago, King Lar Gand was poisoned by the queen because he had been associated with the rebels during his last year. The economic situation on Daxam has deteriorated exponentially ever since, due to their failure to form an alliance with the Byrnians. Daxam and Byrnian were about to unite their power by an arranged marriage between princess Niro of Byrnian and Prince Mon-El of Daxam, right about the same time the king was killed. But right before the wedding, the prince went missing. The queen announced that the rebellion had kidnapped the crowned prince, but the rebels claim that he has joined them. Either way, I haven’t found any trace of the prince during this time. And as for the general situation of Daxam, the planet is on the verge of complete social and economic collapse. Only smugglings and their relation with Dominators have helped them survive this far. “

Alex finished her preliminary explanation about Daxam and the rebels, all the while flipping through pictures, changing them according to her saying. Kara kept looking at them. She saw pictures of the infamous Queen Rhea and then there was one of the last pictures taken from Prince Mon-El, hand in hand with princess Niro of Byrnian – both in elegant clothing.

Kara could easily see the deep frown and cold eyes on prince Mon-El’s face. She didn’t like the prince. In Kara’s mind, he was a kind of boy who played the girls, never care about anyone but himself. She had her reasons to believe that the prince hadn’t join the rebels, but had ran away from a life of responsibilities. He had chosen the easy way out. Most probably, he was sun bathing on some other planet surrounded by beautiful girls. He was the frat boy of the galaxy.

Alex paused for a moment before moving on with her report.

“During the last month, the Beasts have been much more active, as if they are up to something bigger which raises concern for us. Beasts have never been this close to our system and Daxam is their haven, as the planet itself seems to run with smuggling chains while the royalties support them. They have less reasons to stay hidden on Daxam. I’ve been trying to get close to them and I need to put distance between myself and the rebels if I want to actually infiltrate them. But we also need eyes and ears in the rebels. Therefore I have suggested the council to enter another undercover agent to Daxam to take my former place among the rebels.”

At this point Alex flashed Kara a brief smile. Kara was beyond grateful for Alex’s trust in her. Major Dar-An laced his fingers together before putting them on the table, making Kara turn her attention to him.

“This Kara Zor-El, shall be your first mission. You will infiltrate the rebellions and gain their trust and gather information, while being in touch with us and send regular reports. We believe something big is happening on Daxam that will affect us. You will not be in touch with agent Alex that much though, which makes this mission a real one for you. This is your chance to prove to us that you can finally operate fully as an agent. The details of your mission will be discussed in another briefing, in two hours with agent Alex and other tech assets who will equip you with proper gadgets. Now Kara Zor-El, are you ready for this?”

Kara took in a deep breath while looking at the hologram pictures on last time. “Yes Sir. “

“Good, then dismissed. “

Kara almost jumped from her seat and saluted once more, before marching out of the room, with excitement oozing from her every corner. This was it! That two hours seemed so long.

Kara really liked to talk Alex after all this time apart. Like really talk, not about this mission. She waited around the hallway a few more minutes, but apparently the other occupants of the room had exited through the other door.

Kara sighed. Alex must have other more important duties to attend to, so she decided to spend her time in the training room. She tried shooting at targets for a few minute, then she tried to warm up by sparring with the dummy in the room. There were only two other people in the room.

Half an hour later when Kara was working on an especially hard move that Alex had taught her, she felt someone grabbed her hand a bit too harshly and she acted out of practice and kicked back only to be countered by another kick and suddenly she found herself face to face with Alex. She was so happy that no word could come out of her mouth.

“Good. Your reflexes are still sharp.“ Alex commented with a playful smile.

 Kara threw herself at her and gave her a bear hug. “Oh gosh Alex! I missed you!”

Alex hugged her back with a chuckle, pushing Kara back to see her face.

“Jeez Kara I have a reputation here.” Alex protested, but she was grinning.

Alex liked to be all fierce and tough in front of others, but Kara knew in her heart she was one of the kindest persons in the galaxy. Kara giggled at her and let her go. Nodding her head towards the other agents in the room who hadn’t even looked in their direction, Kara gave Alex her famous pout. “Oh come on! No one saw that! And you know how much I’ve miss you!”

“Okay, okay. Fair enough. So what’s new around here? “

Kara moved to take her towel from her bag in the corner of the room, shaking her head, while Alex accompanied her. “Oh… nothing. Just the same old same old.”

“I see. “

Kara gave Alex her megawatt smile. “I’m really thankful for putting a good word for me Alex!”

Alex shrugged. “It was only the truth. You are ready for this.”

For a moment they just stood there, appreciating each other, until Alex pointed her head in the direction of the sparring mat in the middle of the room. “So you wanna prove me you’re ready?”

“You bet!”

And for the next hour, Kara and Alex went through all the techniques that Kara knew. She performed them perfectly but no one was a match for Alex.

“Ouch… ouch… okay I’m not ready!”

Alex was pushing Kara’s head into the mat with her knee and her right hand was twisting Kara’s left on her back. Alex laughed and held her like that for a little longer just to tease her. “Not bad for a rookie. Okay time to get changed for the briefing. “

Alex released Kara and she jumped back on her feet, huffing. She was sore, but really happy. She loved sparring with Alex even though they almost always ended with her locked under Alex’s grip. They headed for the showers and managed to reach the conference room for the debriefing in time.

It took almost a full hour to go over all the details. Then Kara had to head back home to say goodbyes and get ready for her departure with Alex, three hours after Rao had set.

Kara wasn’t sure how she felt exactly. Too excited to be upset about not seeing her parents for a long time, but also a bit nervous about how they would react. She reached the doors to their house and her heart was pounding in her chest with anticipation.

The doors opened and a robotic familiar voice welcomed her. “Welcome back Lady Kara!”

“Thanks Kalex.”

She searched their living room with her eyes and saw no one around. “Kalex where are my parents?”

“While you were gone Lady Kara, Lady Alura and Master Zor-El were called into a meeting with Master Jor-El at the Argo city hall. “

Kara almost huffed in frustration. “And when will they come back?”

“I’m afraid, they did not share that information.”

“Great…”

“But they did left me a message for you. They asked if you could keep Lady Lara and young master Kal-El company. “

Kara thought about that for a moment and figured that would be the best option. At least she could see Kal one more time before she left.

“Okay Kalex. I’ll be at uncle Jor-El’s house. Notify me if my parents came back.”

“Of course Lady Kara. “

 And she headed back to her pod and zoomed over to her uncle’s house. Usually uncle Jor-El lived in Candor, but they owned a house here in Argo city as well – since it was the capital city – and some part of the year they lived here. Kara stopped her pod in the small hanger in front of the house and hopped out. She felt her stomach dropped when she saw fourteen year old Kal sprinting out of their door and ran to hug her.

“Kara! I missed you!”

Kara hugged him back tightly and kissed the top of his head. “I’ve missed you too Kal!”

“I have a lot of things I want to show you!”

He let go of her and gave Kara his biggest smile. She smiled back at him and let him drag her into their house. When they reached his room, he started showing her all his little stuff and class projects. She couldn’t concentrate on all he was saying because all she could think of was her mission and how little time she had to say goodbye. She wasn’t oblivious to the dangers of her job so she wanted to make sure that she had said what she wanted to all her loved ones.

“Kal would you let your cousin breathe first?”

Aunt Lara’s voice came from the direction of the door, chastising Kal. Kara turned around and saw her aunt standing at Kal’s door.

Lara was tall and beautiful in her white long dress. She had blond hair and brown eyes. If anyone didn’t know any better they would say Kara resembled Lara, while they weren’t closely related by blood. Kara smiled warmly before moving forward to hug her. “Hi Aunt Lara.”

“Dear Kara. How are you? “

Kara really didn’t know how to answer that right now. She just shrugged. “Everything’s good. “

She knew her face said another story, but Lara wasn’t the type of a person to push her. That was one more reason to love her.

Since Kal was tapping his foot impatiently on the ground, Lara just nodded kindly and decided to let them be.

“Kal’s been waiting for this opportunity for a while. I let you talk. But come find me later. I would like to talk to you as well.”

“Of course Aunt Lara. See you later.”

Kara spend enough time with Kal, until he showed and told her all he wanted. Kara then went to find Lara. It was almost dark and she was getting more nervous. Kara very briefly explained that she had a work related trip and wasn’t sure when she would be back. She didn’t even disclose the destination. She wasn’t allowed to share any details. Lara listened to her and after a moment of silent she simply nodded before reaching to squeeze her shoulder with a genuine smile.

“I know you will do great things Kara. I pray to Rao that he keeps you safe from any harm.”

Kara felt tears pulling in her eyes but blinked them away quickly, thanking her.

They heard footsteps and Kara saw her parents and uncle came through the living room area. Kal was following them with a shining grin on his face. Excited that his uncle, aunt and beloved cousin Kara had come over to their house after a long time. Kara and Lara stood up to greet them.

Kara thought this will be a very long night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So now we'll be leaving Krypton and into Daxam we go! And it's just about to really begin! Also enjoyed writing Alex!  
> Lol! The Kryptonian name for Alex is totally hilarious :)))) what do you think?! 
> 
> BTW, DID YOU SEE SEASON 3 TRAILER?!!!! I'M DYING! I CAN'T STOP CRYING AND I'M SOOOOO WORRIED FOR KARA AND HOW THINGS WILL UNFOLD.
> 
> anyway, this chapter was more about info and detail. Promise the real fun and action starts with chapter 5.
> 
> Also, sorry @Sunflower_Nation XD I got impatient and posted this before the completely edited version! Luv U. I'll post the edited version later.
> 
> I also will edit some parts in previous chapters, ch 2 and ch 3. nothing will change that much. just some parts that might have been unclear what I meant.
> 
> p.s: I checked http://www.kryptonian.info/ for the word "eye" and found "Skis" ;) awesome website!


	5. Don't Hold Your Breath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kara's mission on Daxam begins.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, hope you've enjoyed the story so far. Here is a new chapter and Kara's adventure on Daxam really begins now so buckle up!  
> Just one note, there's a slight trigger warning for violence towards the end of the chapter.

“Ehm.”

Kara turned her head left and found Alex staring at her with a raised brow. “What?”

“You’ve been awfully quiet since you came back.”

“Just trying to focus on the mission.”

Alex kept looking at her with sharp hazel eyes, as if they could see right through her. Kara wasn’t really in the mood. “Oh come on Alex. What do you expect me to say?”

“The truth! What’s on your mind?” Alex pressed.

“I told you! I’m trying to be serious about this mission.”

“Then why’s the crinkle still there?”

“Oh for Rao’s sake, not the crinkle again!”

Alex chuckled and decided to tease her further. “One day your cover will be blown by that crinkle!”

Kara frowned, making her crinkle got even deeper.

Alex broke into a laugh. “Just kidding! So tell me what’s up?”

Kara didn’t say anything for a moment and turned her head to gaze into the expanse of darkness in the window before her. They were sitting in their seats in a Daxamite shuttle, strapped down by belts, while they were reaching the outer borders of Krypton’s strong gravitational field. This part of the launch required them to be in their seats and the small shakes of the ship indicated the strain on the shuttle while escaping the planet.

Kara couldn’t see any stars at this point with everything a blur in the front reinforced window. She was a bit stressed at the ship’s tremors. Kryptonian pod’s never had such problems when they were speeding out of the atmosphere, but Daxamite ships were old fashioned. Alex had assured her that they will get to their destination safely. Kara had just scoffed at that.

There was no other choice and this ship was also necessary for their cover, as they couldn’t simply land on Daxam with a shiny and fancy Kryptonian pod. Kara thought about the past few hours; from her hard and awkward farewells to getting ready for the launch in a hidden hangar in one of SKIS bases. She just felt overwhelmed, like for the first time she wasn’t sure anymore.

“Just feeling overwhelmed. The goodbyes were really awkward. Mother barely said anything and Kal looked really sad. I don’t know-“

Kara started opening up without looking at Alex, but Alex cut her off. “Hey look at me.”

Kara stopped her rambling and looked back at Alex, seeing understanding in those eyes.

“It’s normal to feel this way. You think I wasn’t scared the first time? I was terrified! But I believe you keep fighting! So instead of getting drowned into yourself, let’s focus on our work. I’m pretty sure you can get through this and all of your missions to come. It won’t be easy, but you can do it.”

Kara smiled and nodded just as the monitors showed that they had past the gravitational zone and were almost 100 thousand miles away from Krypton’s surface. The rattling had stopped and the gravity simulator was active so they could finally get out of their seats.

Alex piloted the spaceship, while Kara watched her doing that, trying to learn as much as she could. They also contacted their base to report and then the ship was on auto pilot, on its route to the capital city of Daxam, the city of Telos.

“Okay, now go over all the details of our cover for me.” Alex demanded and Kara rolled her eyes.

“Oh not again Alex! We just did that before the launch!”

“Yes, but you need to focus and I want you ready when we land. There’s no time for practice anymore. You can be very bad at lying and it will only get better if you keep the facts ready in your head. So go over all the details.”

“Okay. My name is Marley Danvers. You are my sister Lexie Danvers. We are from planet Earth and we decided to agree the offer of an alien to visit planet Euphorix with a teleportation gate five years ago, but the portal got damaged and we got lost in the galaxy and now we are stranded on Daxam looking for a way to go back to Earth. You are a doctor on Daxam and I will become a waitress. You happy now?”

“No. who are our parents?”

“Jeremiah and Eliza Danvers. “

“How old are we?”

“I’m 25 you’re 28.”

“Where did you live?”

“On planet Earth.”

“What city?”

“Midvale.”

“What did you do on Earth?”

“I was studying journalism.”

“What did I do?”

“You were studying to become a doctor.”

 “How did we come to Daxam?”

“After a few days on planet Euphorix, a travelers accepted to take us back to his planet, Durlan. Then we hitch hiked a few times with different people, but no one went in Earth’s direction and finally we have been stranded here on Daxam and we hope to find a way to go back to Earth.”

“How long have you been on Daxam?”

“About two years. I was in another city, but I’m coming to Telos to be with you.”

“What do you do on Daxam?”

“I work in a bar.”

“Good.”

“Are we done?”

“For now.”

Alex sneered at her, turning to check over the monitors and make sure everything was alright. Kara huffed and tried to free her mind, but not letting it go back to her sad and rather cold goodbyes.

They had 12 more hours to get to Daxam. Alex made Kara sleep a few hours and then they were both back in their chairs an hour before the anticipated landing. Alex seemed more relax than Kara, neither talking for long minutes.

Kara and Alex were both wearing Daxmite dark colored clothes. Dark tight pants and black old heavy boots with lace. Daxam was covered with deserts in most parts, with sand everywhere. Alex was wearing dark top and a dark leather jacket – her usual style, all black – while Kara was wearing a simple dark blue long sleeve shirt without any buttons and her dark red jacket was laying somewhere else. Kara was already sweating, looking at Alex’s clothes one more time, she wondered how can Alex pass as a doctor in this outfit?

They hadn’t brought any Kryptonian clothing with them, never taking the risk of someone finding them by accident. Kara was going over the mission once more in her mind, when Alex broke the silence.

“Okay there’s something I need to tell you, and it’s very important that you listen.”

Kara was alarmed. What was so important that Alex had to break it to her just before they were about to land and not in all those briefings? She just nodded nervously, waiting for her to continue.

“As you know, Daxam is crawling with crime and slave abuse and all the awful things you’ve seen in the holograms, but what you’re about to get into is very different up close and since I know you better than anyone, I know you’re gonna get upset and you will want to react. But you need to keep your emotions in check Kara. You hear me? You will not get angry!”

She punctuated each of her last words like she was hammering them into Kara’s brain and she held her stare with blazing ferocity. Kara forgot to breathe for a moment then she nodded again, gripping the chair belts that held her shoulders, but Alex seemed far from convinced.

“I need to hear your words Kara.”

Kara tried to mirror Alex’s expression and look dead serious.

“I will not get angry!”

“Good. Because we’re here for the mission not to fight street criminals. We don’t want to draw attention to ourselves and going around getting into trouble with thugs on the street is the opposite of that!”

Kara was kind of confused. Alex said all these to her, like she had already gotten herself into trouble, but she didn’t complain. Alex was her superior and Kara needed to obey her to get through this mission. Her very first mission.

After that Alex piloted the shuttle in Daxam’s orbit and contacted their base on Krypton one last time. They would go radio silent for the time being, until they had any useful Intel. After that they radioed a landing request and got permission to land on a small public hangar, located on the west side of Telos.

They landed without any problem – the shaking and vibrations sure were driving Kara crazy, but according to Alex this was all normal. Finally the ship’s doors opened and Kara drew in a breath for the first time in the air of Daxam. Ugh! It smelled like garbage. She wanted so bad to cover her nose and mouth, but when Kara saw Alex didn’t even flinch, she decided to follow her example.

Everything she had worked on these past two years were all preparation. It was time for action.

*

The Music was too loud as usual in the small bar and Kara was frustrated. All she had to do all day from afternoon to the early hours in the morning, was standing ready, fetching orders, cleaning tables and smiling.

What the hell? Wasn’t she a badass agent? It’s been a whole month of learning how to make those damn drinks and put up with the noise and the smell. And Rao the smell! What the hell was she even doing here?!

Kara rubbed her forehead to wipe the sweat. It was like a swamp in this small bar with not even one damn window and some people were smoking some very stinky things, producing green and red smokes that swirled around the closed space, making it even harder to breathe.

Kara flinched a bit at the screeching noise that was called music, deciding to use her ten minutes break to gather her bearings for the rest of the night. She still had five more hours on her shift. Heading for the back door as fast as she could, Kara dodged the weird customers and the other waitresses with trays full of bubbly colorful drinks. When she stepped out, the door slammed shut behind her with a gust of powerful wind outside.

There was another sand storm on the way, getting more frequent these days. Apparently it happened a lot when seasons changed on Daxam. Kara used the red scarf in her apron to cover her face, she screwed her eyes shut, sitting on a wooden box next to the wall and leaned back. Fortunately the wind wasn’t directed towards her, so the sand grains wouldn’t get into her eyes. She muttered kryptoninan curses under her breath. Ten minutes was far too short to ease her nerves. Kara tried to go through all that had happened since they landed.

*

“Kara! Breathe!”

Alex shot at her in a low, but accusing voice. She must have noticed Kara was turning purple as they were walking out of the old hangar which was located next to the biggest pile of garbage Kara had ever seen in her life and its stench was giving her dizzy – or was it the lack of oxygen since she was holding her breathe.

“I CAN’T!”

Kara finally let out the breath she was holding, but her eyes were turning wet and red as the smell burned her nose. Alex frowned at her and ordered.

“Yes you can! And since it won’t be the only time, keep it in mind not to react so dramatically to these situations! I did tell you, remember?”

“You said crime and heart breaking scenes! Not monstrous hills of garbage and poisonous GASES!”

Kara spat out, but tried you keep calm at the same time. Her lungs were burning and the dizziness was turning into nausea.

Alex looked at her calmly. “I know it’s hard the first time and it’s not poisonous, it just stinks. So just try to get used to it.”

And she walked faster towards a speeder with worn colors that had seen better days. Now that they had put some distance between themselves and the damn source of smell, Kara could think more clearly and took in the sight around them with trained eyes.

The hangar wasn’t crowded. They had paid for the ship in cash – it was a rental ship and SKIS had hacked its system, so it seemed as if the ship had been to the planet Calaton instead of Krypton – walked out without any problems and went to find Alex’s speeder bike (Alex had informed Kara she had bought this bike before and it was parked here ever since she had departed Daxam to return to Krypton.)

“How is it not stolen?! It must have been here for a few days!” Kara asked in a bewildered tone.

Alex opened the lock on the rear part and gave Kara a smirk before answering.

“It seems old and worn, so no one gives it a second look. That’s why I’ve chosen it. But don’t look at her like that! The engine is a brand new Alstairanian model for jets. This grandma is a devilish babe under this wrinkled skin!”

Kara just stared between Alex and the grandma speeder bike which she had just called BABE! It wasn’t every day you saw agent badass Alex like this. Kara just nodded with a smile and hopped on Grandma Babe behind Alex.

Alex stationed Kara at a small rental room – which she had arranged and had paid the first month rent. Kara was supposed to live in that dirty studio flat for now and next thing she knew, Alex took her to that filthy bar and talked to the manager and after that Kara was handed an apron and had to come into work tomorrow.

When they stepped out of the bar, Kara took some deep breaths and turned to look at Alex expectantly. Alex had been forward about the plan. Kara was supposed to work and earn her money to pay for the rent and food and spend some time to get comfortable with the surroundings, before being introduced to the rebellion members. Alex wasn’t supposed to be around her for much longer. Alex had a mission that was far more dangerous than hers. She was supposed to get close to the Beasts and gain their trust, therefore Kara wouldn’t be seeing much of her unless they had emergency meetings. Alex cleared her throat.

“Okay so that was it. Now you have a job and a place to sleep.”

“How did you get the place and the job so fast?” Kara had to ask. How could Alex make all these seem so easy?

Alex shrugged. “Well I used to work here for a while and Gab knew me.”

“Who?”

“Gab the manager. I was talking to him.”

“You worked here? I thought you were a doctor!”

“I am, but before that I needed money and couldn’t find any positions. So I worked here a few months until I could start as a night shift nurse in that rickety infirmary. Gab knew me so he was glad that my sister Marley would work here as well as I could.”

Kara found a new admiration for Alex at that moment. She hadn’t realized before, exactly how much Alex had worked her way from scratch in this place and she was helping Kara without her asking. Kara felt she should have been stronger and suddenly felt ashamed at acting so immature at the smells.

“Now that we’re talking about my history here, you should also know that your landlord Mr. Kar, is an ars. If you pay him even one hour late, there’s no guaranty you will have a place to sleep at. So make sure you pay him on time.”

“Mr. Kar? You know him too? Let me guess, you used to stay in that room.”

“Yeah, for some months, though not in that exact room. Well, he has cheap rooms and gets money in cash, so there’s no trace and it’s safer. Just ignore the sounds at night and you’ll be okay.”

Kara shivered, but didn’t complain. Fortunately her room was fairly close to the bar, where she was a waitress at, and didn’t need any transportation vehicle. Alex dropped her at her room and told her some more tips, assuring her things would get easier and ordered her to just do her job at the bar and appear normal, (her exact words were ‘as normal as Kara could seem’ at which Kara rolled her eyes.) and the next time they would meet Alex would take her to a rebellion base to introduce her.

Alex mounted on her “Old Lady” and before igniting the bike, stared Kara square in the eyes and said. “Stay out of trouble.”

*

After that Kara had done as Alex told her. She went to the bar which was called “Garata Head” an ominous name, and Kara thought it did smell like Gararta dragons in there. She learned how to make drinks and handle orders, though not without difficulty. Sometimes Kara would irritate Gab with her mistakes, but since Alex had been such a fantastic employee, he had given her more chances. Kara would receive her allowance weekly – which wasn’t that much, but sufficed her expenses – and kept her money safe and paid extra attention to pay Mr. Kar on time. It had been going like this for a whole month now and every day Kara was getting more restless.

Today she was tired of everything and worried for Alex.

 _Where is Alex? Is she okay? Should I call her on an emergency? No, better not risk it. She said it would take some time. I have to be stronger. I will wait_.

She let out a long breath and took a look at her watch. Shoot! She was late! She jumped up to get to the door, when she hear a weak cry. A cry for help. Kara stopped dead with her hand on the door knob. Despite the roar of wind in hear ears, she could hear her heart beating.

Next thing she knew, Kara was running involuntarily towards the sound – which seemed to be coming from around the corner. She sneaked her head from the edge of the wall and inspected the narrow ally way.

Kara saw an ugly looking alien, twice her size with grey skin, gripping a young girl by the throat and laughing. The poor victim was franticly clawing and shouting at her attacker with tears running down her face, choking at the strong grip on her neck that silenced her.

Kara knew what was about to happen and saw red.

Alex’s word rang into her mind. DO NOT GET ANGRY.

But it was too late. All the logic drilled into her simply flew out of the window and with one skilled move, Kara ran up to huge man and punched him in the ribs. The man grunted in pain and let go of the girl. He turned his ugly head to see who had dared to assault him. He shouted and waved his hand to slap her or smack her in the head, but Kara was quick to dodge his slow moves and with a hard kick to the back of his knees, brought him down to ground, pummeling him on the head and making him go limp.

Kara panted, turning to see how the girl was doing. She was crouched beside the wall, looking terrified and trembling. Kara brushed away the loose hairs on her face and moved to kneel in front the girl.

“Hey it’s okay. He can’t hurt you anymore.”

The girl just kept taking in shallow breaths, her green eyes wide with disbelief, like she wasn’t sure what had happened or if Kara wanted to hurt her. Her eyes traveled from the motionless hip on the ground back to Kara and didn’t say anything. Kara tried to check if she was injured, but she seemed fine. Her clothes were ragged and ripped. The wind kept dragging their long hairs to its direction and the grains of sand obscured their view. At last the girl started moving her lips.

“… You saved me…”

Her Daxamite accent was not of a native. Kara heard whispers and turned her head to see some people were standing ten feet away, looking alarmed. They must have been coming out of the bar and saw Kara took down the abuser. Kara thought at least half her face must be covered by the scarf she had put on earlier, but when her hand reached to her face, she realized in the heat of the fight the fabric had jerked away.

The over-sized body on the floor started to grunt and stir, making Kara almost panic. She turned back to the girl again and asked if she could stand. She shuffled to her feet and Kara dragged her with herself to the back door – where she was sitting in what seemed like hours ago. Kara sat the girl on the wooden box and gripped her shoulders.

“Look you need to get yourself to safety now!”

The girl shook her head. “No… I can’t go anywhere!”

“Why not!?”

“He…he’s my master!”

And Kara felt her insides turned into ice. Everything was going really wrong. Kara had hit a man for abusing his slave in broad daylight and everyone had seen her face. Without a doubt there would be consequences.  There was no time and it was all in the past now. The only thing Kara could do, was to somehow free this girl.

“Okay then you run! He’s not here right now. You have time to-”

“No! I won’t run away!” The girl shoved Kara away with a look of total disbelief, her green eyes sparking.

“But he –“

 “No I won’t leave my family behind! And don’t you know what happens to escaped slaves!?”

The girl was panicking. Kara felt sick to her stomach. She had seen rows of hanged slaves at some inferior parts of the city – while going through pictures back on Krypton. Some bounty hunters would find escaped slaves to receive money from their masters and usually the poor souls would be hanged as a punishment.

The girl got up and limply walked back to where she was before. She glanced tearfully one more time at Kara, who was rooted to the ground, speechless, before disappearing to get back to his master.

Kara didn’t know how long she stood there, reeling in helplessness, anger and confusion, trying to calm herself, before she headed back into the bar – ten minutes late – hoping, in that dark, noisy and smelly bar no one would recognize her.

Everything seemed normal in there, like nothing had ever happened. How could all that happened in just ten minutes?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading :)
> 
> funny thing, while writing this chapter I was reading "Fevre Dream by George R. R. Martin". It's such an amazing vampire thriller story! After reading it you'd think all the vampire lore we see in other books and movies all come from this book, which was published in 1982. It also did give me some insight into a world with slaves and how there were bounty hunters who would trap escaped slaves to get money from their masters. It's an M rated book fellas :)
> 
> ok, I'm done babbling. Peace XO
> 
> P.s: @Sunflower_Nation next chapter is for you! Just warning you ;) This one was kind of your influence too. you'll see more of it next week! muhahaha Xx


	6. Moon River

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The consequences of Kara's action leads her to a whole other place, where she finally comes close to find something about the Beasts, although not without complications!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! sorry I was a few days late for the update, I was working on "A Love Reset" spin off the past week and it kinda drained me, emotionally and physically likewise! and I needed a break afterwards. But now I'm back and I'm SUPER excited for you to read this chapter! It's the chapter everyone's been waiting for!
> 
> "The Lion and the Rose" by @Sunflower_Nation has a lot to do with this chapter! My fist draft of this chapter had a lot of similarities to the atmosphere and characters of her fic and I literally had to rewrite it so I wouldn't look like a copy cat! seriously! Even now, you'll see the similarities if you've read her fic! 
> 
> You guys should totally read her fic! it's a MARVEL. A GEM!  
> so @Sunflower_Nation this chapter is for you. Xo thank you for all the help with my writings <3 I owe you a lot
> 
> Just a WARNING before you start reading; we have CRUDE LANGUAGE in this chapter.  
> ok, you good? here we go!

It was ridiculous how things could spiral down with just one action, and Kara just couldn’t find enough words to berate herself for her idiotic reaction, that caused her all the trouble.

Why the hell hadn’t she listened to Alex!? Why had she been so stupid, not see that the man – Cor-Gan, their REGULAR costumer, according to Gab – was with his slave and why had she blindly rushed in to hurt that bastard without assessing the situation, like she was trained to do? What she did was not only unhelpful, but also with consequences.

Kara had made everything worse for the girl and herself. She felt ravaged with guilt as she thought how that man would punish the girl even further for what was not even her fault.

Kara had gone back to work for the rest of the day, but it wasn’t two hours later that some people had come in to buy drinks and kept talking about a fight they had seen outside, that some chick had beaten the crap out of “Cor-Gan” and someone had mentioned the attacker looked like a waitress and had an apron!

Kara had excused herself repeatedly to stay away from the crowd, who were over joyed to hear about this fight. The story kept getting more and more absurd as people added their own lies to it and by the end of the night when Cor-Gan himself stepped inside the bar, everyone believed that the waitress had attacked him with a laser gun, while he was ALONE and they had fought and he was killed! Funny how in none of the stories there had been a mention of the abused slave girl, and Kara though why should there be? Slaves were the low life beings in this society. They had no rights and no one cared about them.

Cor-Gan immediately started yelling at Gab with flaring eyes and a broken nose and Kara had rushed to hide herself in the bathroom. She couldn’t risk him seeing her. That could make this whole situation even worse. She stayed in that stinky – well stinkier! – Place for a while until the shouting stopped and had gone out to resume her job. Fortunately Cor-Gan had left the bar and everything seemed back to normal. Almost normal. Kara noticed the look Gab was giving her and some other bartenders were whispering something to each other. Oh great!

 

*

 

“Marley… this is very bad.”

Gab told her when her shift was over. It was almost morning and all the costumers were gone. Only she and two other were supposed to stay and tidy up the place. Gab had dragged Kara to a corner and started the conversation which Kara knew had only one result. She just kept quiet.

“People have seen you. They might not recognize you, but I can’t take any risk and Cor-Gan specifically wants your head if he finds you. I didn’t give him your name, but if you stay around while he comes, and he recognizes you, it’s gonna get ugly. And not to mention that I have to pay him for what happened.”

Kara just sighed.

He pinched the bridge of his nose.  “Why did you do that?”

Kara didn’t answer immediately. She knew too well, that no one would react like that on Daxam. “I saw he was about to… to hurt that girl and I…”

Gab tilted his head. “And you didn’t see she was a slave? Oh you foreigners... you just mess things up!”

Kara just waited for Gab to stop his ranting about how the foreign aliens had no idea about Daxam’s culture and ruined everything, then he suddenly frowned like he had remembered something.

“How did you even knock him out?! He’s huge!”

“I surprised him… and I guess it was adrenaline…”Kara unsurely offered.

Her heart was pounding fast not knowing what Gab might have realized. Oh how she had messed up all the rules! Alex would KILL her! – If she wouldn’t get herself killed sooner that is.

To her absolute relief Gab just shook his head in disappointment and said something about Cor-Gan being always drunk or high on drugs. Kara had never felt so light headed with relief. _Thank Rao!_

“So… I know I promised your sister Lexie that you would have a job… but I hope you understand.”

Kara’s happiness was short lived. She was fired…

Kara handed Gab her apron, and as compensation she didn’t receive her weekly payment. And that was it for her. She walked back to her apartment with slumped shoulders just as Rao was coming up, dragging herself and stamping up three floors of stairs –  to which, Mr. Kar sure gave her a mouthful of swears from behind his closed door, which Kara didn’t know half the meaning of – and dropped herself on the rickety cot.

Her mind was too over loaded with nervousness.

She had to think of something. Had to find a job soon. Like really soon. Kara was half into the month for the rent and without a job – even with her savings – she would be homeless in a matter of two weeks.

Kara couldn’t sleep that day at all. The horrified face of the teen slave girl with green eyes was never far from her thoughts. How she was at the brink of panicking when Kara had suggested that she should run and leave her family behind. How could Kara be so gullible not to think of the fate of runaway slaves?

Kara considered calling Alex on an emergency meeting, but then she blamed herself for what had happened and decided to put on her big girl’s pants and go find a job for herself. She couldn’t rely on others to clean up her mess. It was her own problem and she wanted to become as independent and resourceful as Alex.

 

*

 

It had been a week and Kara was no closer to finding work. She had asked around, went to other bars, even looked for simpler jobs or maybe more difficult ones, but everywhere was packed full. No vacancy and of course you would always need a connection or a contact. The corruption had no limit on Daxam, and to make everything worse, Kara was marked in that neighborhood. Everyone saw her as bad news with her new history (being fired from Garata Head). Well done Kara! Way to go making a reputation for yourself in just one month!

Kara decided to look for a job in farther districts of Telos from her apartment. She was five days from being homeless. She knew there was no negotiations with Mr. Kar. Alex had made that clear.

She walked through the blue doors of “Moon River”. The fancy famous night club in the upstate regions of Telos. She had heard about this place even from her co-workers at the bar. A lot of important people and royals came here and they needed a lot of staff to run the place. So there was a snowball chance for her. Kara also thought if she could get in here, she could keep an eye on their more suspicious customers’ activities and therefore she could be actually doing her real job. It was a long shot, but Kara had to take it.

The place was so huge and different from other places she had been to so far. For one thing, it didn’t smell. Praise Rao! And it was fascinating and clean! Kara walked into the open space with neat and round tables, located around the dance floor and the walls radiated relaxing blue beams through the atmosphere, blending gently with small red beams. Kara actually liked this place.

“Can I help you?”

A female voice asked from the direction of the glorious bar that took the whole side of the saloon. Kara walked up to her and fidgeted with her new glasses – it was her new disguise so no one comes close to recognize her as the menace waitress who beat the crap out of a businessman!

“Hi, I’m Marley Danvers! I wanted to know if you need more help around here… maybe even for late shifts… I have experience”

Kara rambled on enthusiastically. The blond woman in front of her seemed nice and unlike most people, here had a smile on her lips. It gave Kara the courage to elaborate her experience and she didn’t interfere until Kara was done with her little speech. Then she was tapping her chin like she was really considering Kara’s offer.

“Well we’re a bit short of staff at early hours in the morning and soon it will get busier in the coming week… but I need to see you in action. We only allow the best in Moon River. If you come tonight and show me your skills, we can decide afterwards if you have a place here or not.”

Kara was beside herself. Finally someone had actually given her a chance to prove herself. She was speechless for a few seconds and nodded repeatedly in excitement and thanked the woman profusely.

 

*

 

That night – or rather that early morning – Kara put all her skills in use to prove herself. Whenever a new customer came in, she would be assigned to their table by Dana – The blond woman who Kara spoke to and was the bar manager.

After working for five hours without any mistakes (no one was more surprised than herself! Kara thought maybe the open space and fresh air in this club, really had something to do with it or was it the dire situation?) Dana accepted to employ her temporarily for about two weeks to see how she would keep up. To Kara’s great disappointment she would not receive any payment during this time. Kara had no choice but to agree with these terms. She would have a job, but she would most probably become homeless.

Dana told Kara about the terms of her employment – or rather her temporary employment – while completing her routines to close the bar, putting the dirty glasses down to a compartment that would be taken to the kitchen for cleaning, and the bottles in their right order on the bright twinkling shelves. It was closing times and Kara had finished cleaning the tables with other waitresses. She stepped closer to Dana and cleared her throat.

“So should I meet the boss tomorrow?”

Dana turned the main lights off – from a switch next to the bar entrance – and turned to face Kara with an amusing smile on her face.

“Oh you mean Mr. Rand?”

“Well I didn’t know his name…”

Kara’s voice trailed off and Dana chuckled, making Kara confused. Dana explained.

“No it’s okay! It’s just that Kai Rand, the man who built and owns Moon River, is a hard man to find. No one knows when he comes or goes. So chances of meeting him, especially for the staff, are really low. Even I have a hard time talking to him once a month about the stock takings or the money flow. So no, you won’t meet him. I’m in charge of employing waitresses.”

“Oh, okay.” Kara shrugged.

She did want to see this Rand guy since he sounded important enough to know some useful information about the black marketing or even the Beasts. She just had to blend in this place and gain their trust and keep her eyes open to know what he did around here or outside here.

“See you tomorrow Marley. Don’t be late!” Dana winked at her.

Kara smiled at her. “Bye Dana. I wouldn’t want to be late on my first day, would I?”

 

*

 

“…Crap,crap,crap!”

Kara kept muttering under her breath as she ran through the street, leading to Moon River, ignoring the looks some people were giving her. She had only two minutes to get to the club and be on time. Fortunately Kara’s training paid off as she pushed herself to the limits and managed to reach the locker room to change into her uniform with 2 minutes to spare. She walked into the salon to show herself to Dana.

“Wow you look as red as the sand Marley! Glad you made it in time!” Dana remarked as she took in her sight.

“I… was… stuck… behind…people… Garata…” Kara panted with every word.

Dana shook her head and pulled Kara aside, straightening her askew apron and untidy collar.

“Tsk… Tsk… Tsk… didn’t you know that it’s the Garata Fest this week you silly girl? All the roads are crowded! Okay just go shape up in the rest rooms and come back in more decent.”

Kara scurried away, scolding herself for this mistake. How could she not remember the beloved Garata Fest on Daxam?! On all the planet this week, people would gather to watch and bet on the dragon fights. A lot of people from other places in the galaxy were interested in the bloody fights as well and Telos seemed swarmed with the crowds of people tonight. Kara had a long way to come to the Moon River from her house and since she was on saving mode, she couldn’t afford renting a speeder and had to walk about an hour to get here.

Kara was really starting to believe that she had been put under a curse since landing on Daxam. Why everything seemingly went south every time?! She mostly blamed herself and tried to not screw up anything else for that day.

*

Kara watched as Mr.Kar threw her belongings out in the hallway after she had pleaded with him to accept two third of the rent and be paid twice the next month. But he wouldn’t have any of it. He had dragged Kara outside the room and made her watch as he kept throwing and shouting incoherently. No one else had bothered to come or even sneak a peek to see what was happening this morning. It seemed this happened a lot around here.

Mr. Kar finished breaking her only two cups by smashing them right in front of her feet, grunting.

“You clean this mess and leave. If I see you here when I come back, let’s just say I have a friend in royal guards with a grudge on foreigners.”

He stomped down the stairs with the two third of the rent as his prize. The floor shook slightly under his heavy weight with each step. Kara had clenched her fist the entire time to control her temper. She felt tears pricking at the corner of her eyes from frustration and hopelessness. How was she supposed to find a room now? With all accommodations booked and sold out in this week, Kara feared she had to either sleep at the club or on the streets. The second option sounded as insane as willingly offer herself to the criminals.

Kara tried to gather what was left of her stuff. Going back into the room, she closed the door and kneeled beside a certain wooden board on the floor that was loose. With her nails, she pulled it up to reveal the small space underneath it which held her cutting edge hologram device that had a circular shape and was only two inches in diameter. The only thing that connected her to Krypton and Alex, and could do a lot more. Kara had send short reports with it to SKIS with it during this month and every time she had received only on word: “PROCEED”

Even when she reported that she’d had a complication at the bar and had beaten someone and was jobless, they had only asked if her cover was blown away and upon receiving Kara’s negative reply, they had again send her the same damn word: “PROCEED”! Kara was getting sick of the word. Proceed to what? To become a full Daxamite?!

Kara linked a chain to it and hid it under her clothes, around her neck. She gathered the garbage Kar had left behind from destroying everything and headed outside to go to Moon River. It was about six hours earlier than her shift, but she had nowhere else to go to.

Kara felt her headache getting worse by the minute, mostly due to the lack of sleep. She hadn’t been able to get sleep for two days in a row. With all the noise outside it was next to impossible to actually shut the world out. No matter what time of the day – especially in her neighborhood with all those thugs and abusers and criminals – there was just no quiet. So Kara was exhausted.

Kara tried to focus and remember some of her training. Like when she had to walk through some dangerous environments for three days to reach a location, remembering she had barely slept on that survival training. So how hard could this be? She just had to find a place to stay ASAP.

 

*

 

Kara had been working for 9 hours. It was 3 in the morning and the club was buzzing with customer – the busiest night she had seen in this week. Kara had only worked here for five days and The Grata Fest was the reason they barely had time to scratch their heads. Even Dana was on edge and would shout at the staff, willing them to work faster and more accurate. She didn’t even acknowledge Kara’s presence six hours earlier than her shift and immediately had put Kara in charge of bringing more drinks and glasses to the counter.

Now, Kara was she leaning to the counter to give herself a moment, before rushing to another table. She was a little dizzy from all the work and lack of sleep. Taking in some deep breathes, Kara noticed a group of five men around the corner, seemingly deep into a conversation among themselves.

Kara’s interest was picked. She hadn’t had any chance to eavesdrop yet and these group were obviously suspicious. Fortunately she was near enough and strained her ears to listen. The man in the middle was talking to the others – with dark hair and beard, possibly in his 40s and his fancy clothes led Kara to guess he was royalty.

“… Rhea said it will only be two more days and a ship … 

They turned left and went to the VIP section leading the private rooms upstairs. Kara’s heart rate was elevated. She’d clearly heard the queen’s name. This was what she has been waiting for.

Kara looked through the staircase leading to the VIP section. The low rank staff weren’t allowed in the rooms and she had never seen the rooms. Looking around her, finding everyone too preoccupied, she made her decision.

She went to Dana. “Hey Dana, can I have a short break?”

Dana looked at her a bit confused while mixing a drink absentmindedly.  “Marley? Didn’t you come in like two hours ago?”

“No I was here since 7”

“What? How come I didn’t see you?”

Dana poured the orange drink in a tall glass and swiftly handed it to a waiting customer. Kara just shrugged in her answer. Dana wiped her forehead and closed her eyes from exhaustion for a second, before nodding.

“Of course, you take as much as you need. I know you’ve over worked today, but we really use your help here. Can you stay longer?”

“Absolutely! Thanks”

Kara hurried to the back door which led to the staff’s break rooms and storage. She sneaked into the storage and grabbed a tray and some glasses. She quickly reached for a bottle of champagne and changed her hair style by untying her pony tail, before heading outside.

Kara observed her surroundings. She saw Dana had her back to her. She moved as fast as she could towards the stairs. Despite not knowing what complication she would face in her mission, she had made up a story and tried to stay calm. This was almost a shot in the dark, but she had to take it. This was her purpose here.

She wore a confident and emotionless expression and walked up to mount the stairs. The tall bulky guard who was standing next to the stairs looked down at her with a death glare and stretched a hand to prevent her from proceeding. Kara cleared her throat.

“Complementary drink from Moon River for the gentlemen.”

Kara kept her explanation short and straight forward. She knew the more she talked, the less her lie would work. The guard kept his glare for a few more seconds and to Kara’s surprise, dropped his hand and granted her passage. Kara didn’t wait anymore and quickly climbed up the dim stairs.

She felt drops of sweat running down her back. This was only the first part. She reached the top of stairs. It was only lightened with dim red lamps on the walls. Kara saw about 8 doors spread on both sides of the hallway - all of them closed.

 _Great! Nice planning miss agent S52!_ Kara just froze with the cold trey in her hands, biting her lower lip. Clock was ticking and she had to do something fast before everything backfired. Then Kara saw the red and green lights next to each door. Red meant occupied and green was empty. She decided to listen through the doors to find out which one was occupied by those men. She first checked for cameras. None. It would have been weird if there were any. VIP’s wanted privacy above everything else.

Kara reached for the chain around her neck and brought out her spying gadget. She drew out an ear piece from it and put it in her ear. Then she held the device in front of each door and listened as the enhanced sounds enabled her to hear what was happening behind the doors. There were 6 red lights.

On her fourth try, Kara recognized the man’s voice. Kara waited a moment to listen what he was talking about. It didn’t seem important like what she had heard down there. She fumbled with the gadget to turn on its recording mode swiftly. At that moment, Kara heard footsteps from the stairs. Someone was coming up and it would look bad with Kara standing like that behind a door. She had to go inside. Kara put the ear piece back in its place quickly and returned the device back to the safety of her clothes, leaving it on to record. Then she balanced the trey in her hand – the ices were melting. Kara reached for a button next to the door that alarmed the customer on her presence.

After a few seconds, someone clicked the door open. The black thick door glided aside, revealing a cozy spacious room with the five men sitting in it, looking expectantly at her. Kara stepped in, trying to keep her face straight.

“Complimentary champagne from Moon River for the gentlemen.” She announced and waited for a response.

The man whose voice Kara had earlier heard, nodded indifferently for her to provide the drinks. Kara moved to put the trey on a glass table in front of them next to a splayed deck of cards and started to pour the drinks. She felt their heavy stares on herself. Kara knew at least three of them were checking her out.

She put the five glasses in front of each, collecting the trey and putting the ice bucket close to their reach – just like she did with all the other customers – Kara saw better to exit the room fast and wait to see what they would say from behind the door, since no one had spoken a word in her presence. Kara was only glad she had at least recorded their faces on her device so far. She had turned her back to the men, when the man sitting on the last seat on left spoke up.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

Kara stiffened. The man had pale yellow skin, his eyes unfocused like he was on drugs. Kara saw all the signs of how things could wrong now and tried to prevent it.

“I leave you to enjoy your drink.”

The man sitting next to him laughed out loud and leaned forward with his eyes traveling from her face to her skirt. Kara felt her heart racing. The second man sweetened his voice.

“But I want to enjoy it with you!”

Kara moved closer to the unfortunately closed door, when someone grabbed her wrist. The third man in the group on her right had jumped behind her to prevent her from leaving. Kara wanted so badly to react and hit the man. This was about to get ugly. She frantically looked at everyone in the room. The two men in the middle seemed completely ignorant and were seeping at their drinks while playing with the cards, but the other three men seemed to want to jump on her at any moment. The man who had spoken first, came towards her with a hideous smile on his face on unsteady feet and Kara tensed. She could clearly read his intentions. All her might was barely locked under her clenched fist and her grip on the empty trey in her other hand. Suddenly the man who was holding her wrist, clawed at her collar, ripping two of her buttons open. The buttons made small sounds, hitting the wall and the glass table.

That was all Kara needed to start her move. She spun around twisting the man’s hand around her wrist and smashed the trey in the other guy’s face. Both men groaned in pain and took a step away from her. The other men in the room, except one, all jumped up from their seats. The man with sprained hand shouted:

“You bitch!”

And Suddenly Kara saw three guns were pointed at her. She felt trapped. Panting heavily, Kara tried to asses her choices. The deformed trey was still in her hand.

The fifth yellow faced man whom Kara had hit with the trey, was still pushing his hands to his bloody face on the ground. Kara had broken his nose. The man still sitting in the middle – the same person who Kara had heard first downstairs, and wasn’t interested in what was happening since the beginning – finally looked up at her and observed her. Then Kara saw his eyes stopped on something on her chest and his expression turned into alarm and then deadly threatening.

Kara knew the reason for his reaction. When her shirt was ripped, her hologram device had fallen out and was on display on her chest. Kara felt the air leaving her lungs for good. She was so screwed.

“Give me that necklace.”

The leader said, his tone so cold that left no place for negotiation. Of course with three guns pointing at her there was no question in that.

Others started accusing her as well.

“What a bitch! She broke my nose.”

“I’m gonna teach you a lesson for that!”

Kara didn’t move a finger. If she was about to die, she wouldn’t give in to these thugs. She would fight until her last breath. Even now she was scheming her fighting plans to get out of this situation with minimum injury.

“Didn’t you hear that you SLUT!? Give me the fucking necklace!” The man with the injured hand shouted.

When Kara didn’t move, the leader stepped forward and yanked the device away from her neck. She heard the electronic sounds on their guns that meant it was charged and ready to shoot if she moved or tried to attack again. Kara felt her skin sting as the chain violently broke.

He looked at her device closely, trying to find a way to turn it on, however the device only worked with her finger print and had turned off immediately when it was away from her. He clenched his fist around it with anger and frustration, like he wanted to crush it, but the device was made of strong material and couldn’t be destroyed so easily.

“She’s a spy!” He grunted

“No I’m –“Kara tried to deny only to be cut off.

“Who are you working for?”

And she was in the fire line of five guns now. There was no more time and she slightly bent her knees to jump away behind a chair. It was as if the time froze. Adrenalin did that.

But before anyone could do anything, the door made a clicking sound and opened behind her.

Everyone looked passed her and seemed momentarily distracted by the new person. Kara had a very bad feeling. Was something even worse waiting for her? She slowly turned around and saw a tall man wearing dark clothes, looking at the scene from the doorway. His greyish blue eyes behind a glasses were wide with surprise.

“Mr. Rand!”

The leader called with relief. Kara only felt her heart drop even further. Her boss was here and there was no getting out of this mess now.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DAM DAM DAM!  
> So sorry for the cliff hanger! It's a bad habit of writers! LOL  
> Thank you all for reading it and I appreciate all the comments and reviews.  
> take care and I see you next week. 
> 
> P.S: @Sunflower_Nation I would love to know your personal opinion on this chapter! Xx


	7. Kai Rand

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Who is Kai Rand!?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys. I know I left you on a really big cliff hanger, sorry :))  
> so I'm updating sooner than I was going to.  
> thank you all for your comments. They give me the determination I need to write faster and better.

How come of all days, Kai Rand had chosen this day to show up!?

Kara stared at him. His eyes turned from surprised to serious.

“Mr. Rand this bitch waitress is a spy!”

The man with the injured hand growled and came closer to push the barrel of his gun to Kara’s head.

“Look what we found on her.” The leader bitterly added.

And he showed Mr. Rand, Kara’s device, he held in hand. Kara thought maybe she should deny or plead, but she just couldn’t do anything. The throbbing pain in her head and the dread had made her mind to go blank and dizzy. She could only think about fighting. All the reasoning was gone. She only braced herself for what was most defiantly about to come.

 

“Oh there she is!”

Mr. Rand laughed as his face with beard turned into a delightful expression!

Of all the things she thought he would say this was never one of them. Apparently everyone else was as bewildered as she was.

“This is one of our new staff. I asked her to bring you a drink on the house!” Kai Rand smirked.

“But Mr. Rand! This device –“

The leader waved the device with the chain as if to remind him the evidence was still in his hand, but Mr. Rand simply dismissed it with a wave of his hand and rolled his eyes.

“Oh that’s just our new technology to enhance the communication and ordering services around here! Here let me show you.”

The wide eyed leader put the device in Mr. Rand’s waiting hand. He received it and frowned at the man who was still holding the gun to Kara’s head.

“And please move that away. There’s no need for such drastic measures. This is all just a big misunderstanding.”

The gun was immediately removed and Kara couldn’t even move from surprise. Mr. Rand fumbled with the device and when it didn’t respond to anything, he held it out to Kara.

“Here Marley show the gentlemen what it does.”

Despite being momentarily shocked at him knowing her name, Kara took the device and skillfully turned it to its back side in her slightly trembling hands. This way her device would turn into the disguise mode and it turned on with red lights and beeped as it projected a small hologram above her palm, showing the history search as she slid her finger through it. Kara couldn’t remember being this lucky in her entire life. She had searched to learn about various drinks since working at the bar in her free time and in this situation it all seemed like different drink orders in their eyes.

 “SEE? No reason to be worried at all!”

Kai Rand chuckled as if this whole things was a prank and took the device from her to bring it closer for them to see more accurately. The disguise mode let the gadget to stay on far from her touch for a brief time.

The Men grunted and cursed and put their guns down. Mr. Rand only flashed them his brilliant smug smile and apologized further.

“You have to excuse her, she’s new here and I apologize for any inconvenience she has caused.”

All the admiration she had developed for Kai Rand for rescuing her, vanished instantly. Kara wanted so much to punch him in the face that moment. She had caused inconvenience?! How dare he ignore the insult that these dirty men had posed on her? How dare he just smile and humiliate her even more than she already had been.

Kara glared daggers at him while he was babbling on to distract the men and didn’t even give her a glance. Then He tugged lightly at his cuff to straighten the wrinkles on his sleeve and cleared his throat.

“Very well gentlemen I leave you for a moment to handle this situation and return to you shortly. And as a compensation all the drinks will be on the house tonight.”

Kara almost gasped at how far he was rubbing them in the face with gifts. How could he even think of pleasuring these low lives and spoiling them for being annoyed, while it was completely the other way around!

Kai Rand finally gave Kara – or Marley for all he knew – a nod and she went out of the door with Kai Rand on her tail and the door slid close behind them.

For a moment they were just standing in the almost dark hallway, looking at each other in silence. Kai Rand’s eyes were boring holes in her, until he turned and started walking away towards the stairs without a single word.

After the relief she felt the moment she stepped out of that room, and the swarm of emotions in her from grateful to angry washed away, she turned worried and unsure of the man who was her boss and after all that he had done and the lies he had told in that room, he was ignoring her like nothing has ever happened.

_What is he going to do? Am I fired? Is he going to call the royal guards? Do I have to flee now? Rao! Alex is going to kill me for sure this time when I actually called her on the beacon device. Oh no! The beacon is in HIS hands yet!_

 Kara actually felt the hallway spinning around her. With the adrenalin in her system gone, the fatigue and sleep deprivation was finally hitting her. She thought quickly and decided to confront Mr. Rand and somehow take back her device, whether with words or force, and then run for it.

Kara was about two steps behind him when he stopped abruptly, making Kara almost bump into his back. She was about to say something when he beat her to it.

“Are you trying to get yourself killed?”

He’s voice was a mixture of serious and disbelief. Kara felt anger and surprise at the same time. Mr. Rand spun around to face her again. His face was unreadable, but Kara didn’t shrink from his stare.

“You could at least defend my honor!” Kara spat at him.

All the conversations and arguments she had prepared in her mind a few seconds ago, vanished as anger was the only emotion that was driving her at that moment. Her fists were clenched at her sides. The damn deformed trey was still in her left hand.

Kai Rand only huffed like she was a naive child and only he knew better.

“You foreigners are so dumb about Daxam and _you_ Marley, have no idea what you just had gotten yourself into back there. You think they care about such things?”

He stood in front of her with crossed arms. Shaking his head in disappointment. Kara tried to take the reign in her emotions. She would never admit to him that he had saved her back there. She would argue that she could have handle it herself. Granted, Kara knew this conversation would never end and tried to change the conversation.

Nervously, Kara touched her glasses.

“Ehm… Mr. Rand… I know this looks bad, but…eh… could you give me back my communication device?”

Kara almost winced at how her voice sounded small and unconvincing. Kai Rand squinted at her for a few seconds, before bringing his hand up and looked at the device with the torn chain swinging from it.

Kara couldn’t see his eyes anymore. The reflection on his glasses made it impossible to see them. He then tilted his head and Kara could see that they were fixed on her again, but this time he wasn’t looking at her face. Kara saw how his eyes was observing her torn shirt collar. Kara was glad that lights were dim. She felt uncomfortably self-conscious and touched the collar of her white shirt. Only then she felt the stung on her neck where the chain had broken the skin.

Kai Rand held the device to Kara and she almost snatched it from his hand. Amazed how he would let her have it back so easily. He wasn’t looking at her anymore, staring instead at his feet. He seemed upset or maybe even concerned.

He ran his now free hand through his hair.

“You should a… there’s a supply room in the staff room for extra uniforms. You can grab a new shirt there.” He said with a hoarse voice.

Kara opened and closed her mouth like a fish out of water. She wasn’t even sure what he meant.

“Are you… Am I… but I thought you would want to fire me with what you said handling this situation and all back there”

Kara saw a sparkle of mischief in his eyes.

“Yeah well, we’re in a very busy season and can’t afford to lose staff that easily. Even if they’re pretty clumsy!” He smirked.

Kara didn’t try to respond to his argument. Everything had unbelievably turned out okay and she wasn’t sure what she had to do or say right now. She only managed to give him a faint smile. They stood like that for a few seconds, before he sighed and nodded towards the stair.

“Okay Marley Danvers, you go clean up and you can have the rest of the night off.”

Kara nodded politely and moved past him to descend the stair, but after taking the first step, she stopped and turned around to see him. He was still standing where he was, watching her.

“Thank you Mr. Rand.”

He nodded. He’s face had turned serious and hard again.

“This was just one time Marley, don’t be so reckless again, I won’t be there next time.”

Kara kept his sharp gaze for a few seconds, nodding in response and turned to walk faster to get out of the VIP section.

She almost ran to the supply room to find a new shirt, dumping the useless trey in a trash can and headed to the locker room. It was almost empty. Kara opened her locker and hid the beacon device among her civilian clothes. Today her locker was full since she had to move from her room and all she owned was in that locker.

Kara took a moment and rested her head on her stuff that bulged out. She was so tired and stressed that she couldn’t even think what she was supposed to do now.

_Should I stay? Who is this Kai Rand really? Is he a member of the rebellion and that is why he helped me? Could it be? The billionaire who owns one of the most recognizable clubs on Daxam, is a member of the Rebellion?!_

Kara laughed at herself for even considering it. Another voice in her head screamed for her to run, that it was all just a play to trap her when she was most vulnerable.

This was all so overwhelming. Kara decided she couldn’t reach any decisions now and instead went to the staff rest rooms to change. Her reflection in the mirror was more terrible than she expected. The bags under her eyes, her paleness and the mess that was her hair really made her look far from a Moon River waitress.

Kara washed her face. A thin line of blood on her neck showed where the chain had been torn. She groaned in frustration. Where could she find a new chain to hide the device now? She had to repair it somehow. She padded on the scratch with a wash cloth. Fortunately it wasn’t bleeding anymore and wouldn’t stain her brand new shirt.

It was past four in the morning when finally the last costumers decided to leave. Kara was almost asleep on a bench in the locker room when the commotion in the room caused her to wake fully. All the staff were getting ready to leave and it was time to close the club. Kara moved to change back into her regular clothing.

Now she had another problem. Where on Telos could she go now until working hours again?!

Dana shook her head. “No Marley, it’s against the rules. I can’t let you stay here. I’m sorry.”

Kara sighed and followed Dana outside. This was her last option and now she had to walk around the city and stay awake until afternoon.

Rao she was tired. Even if she had money – which she didn’t since that bastard Kar had taken all she had from her – to stay in a hotel, they were all booked for the Garata Fest.

When Dana left, Kara walked around the club exterior building a few times. It was still dark, but rather quiet. Unlike the neighborhood where her room was located, this part of the city was quiet. Kara could feel the wind grew stronger by the minute. _Grife_ … now she had to get cover somewhere for the coming sand storm.

Kara covered her face with a scarf and shifted her heavy back pack on her shoulders. She moved to a side of the building that faced away from the direction of the wind and sat between a dumpster and the back door.

She wasn’t sure how long she sat there, fighting sleep. Her mind was far too tired to use this time to form a plan – even with the wind howling loudly around her ears. She was about to doze off when she heard someone’s weak voice among the strong wind.

“Mar…ley? Is that…you?”

Kara squinted in the dusty dark space to her right. Who was that? Then a dark tall figure emerged with a glowing device on his wrist, casting light to a small radius around it. In the faint light, Kara saw the face of the man that had called her.

Half his face was covered under his hand and the round glasses sitting on his eyes left Kara no doubt that Kai Rand was standing in front of her for the second time!

“Mr. Rand!”

Kara jumped to her feet.

_Crap! Is he going to scold me for hanging around the club after closing? What is he even doing here so late?!_

“Marley! What are you doing here?”

He asked and then coughed. Clearly he never had come out in the storms and had no knowledge to use a scarf in situation like these. The rich people had no clue when it came to harsh environmental elements.

“Mr. Rand! I… I’m just gonna go, sorry…”

Kara moved to go, but had no idea where to. Then she felt his hand grabbed her wrist and made her turn to face him. She didn’t know why, but his grip on her hand made her heart race. Not in the same way that happened in a fight. It felt really different and she froze.

In the small white glow coming from his hand, Kara saw something different in his eyes that wasn’t as cold as before and when he dragged her with him to the back door, she didn’t resist him. He closed locked the door behind them and coughed a few more times.

In the stronger lighting, Kara could see that all his dark expensive clothes were covered in red dust. Kara removed her scarf and patted the front of her clothes – that had equally turned orange. Small clouds of dust raised from her. She stole glances at Kai Rand.

He took off his glasses to clean it. He looked much younger without them, maybe around her own age. That was when Kara felt like there was something familiar about his face. She couldn’t put a finger on it. Anyways, she had a major headache, she could be wrong.

When Kai Rand put his glasses back on, he glared at Kara again. Looking angry.

“What did I tell you about being reckless!?”

Kara folded her arms in defense. “I wasn’t being reckless!”

“What were you doing in the middle of the storm!?”

“I was waiting in a safe place for it to end, so I could go to my place!”

“The club has been closed over an hour! Why did you wait so long?”

He had completely trapped her in a corner. Kara gritted her teeth. Why did he make her feel both grateful and angry at the same time? She felt her face blushed with effort to come up with an excuse, and when she didn’t say anything, he read right through her, his damn grayish blue eyes piercing her.

“You don’t have any place to stay.” It wasn’t a question.

Kara reluctantly admitted. “No…I don’t.”

 “Then you can stay in the staff room for a few days until you find a place.”

Kara felt bewildered once more. She nodded weakly and this time felt her face blush with embarrassment. She was so helpless right now. Those men could have harmed her tonight and she couldn’t have made it through in one piece without his help tonight.

Kara eyed him with wide eyes as he patted his shoulders to clean the sand. Then he cleared his throat and turned to walk back inside the club.

“Thank you again for helping me…”

He just shrugged and coughed with his back to her.

“Don’t just stand there. Go get some rest. You look like crap! That’s terrible for the business!”

Kara huffed and followed him inside, wondering not for the first time; _Who is Kai Rand really?_

_*_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Who is Kai Rand?!!! hahaha  
> so, since I'm behind writing this fic and have become such a lazy person, you'll have to wait about two weeks for the next update. Sorry...  
>  take care. XO


	8. What Lies Beneath the Sands

Kara was flying over a green scenery, so unlike her home planet, so otherworldly. The rush of wind pulled her hair backwards as she dived over a magnificent blue lake and felt exhilarated. Kara saw a 

That was when she noticed the sun was glowing yellow. That wasn’t right… Rao is red!

And suddenly Kara was falling. A scream hitched in her throat as she threw her hands to grab at something. Kicking in the air willing her power to come back, Kara saw the water surface coming closer and closer, as a loud buzzing sound filled her ears.

Kara jolted awake with a racing heart. In a haze, sweaty and out of breath, holding a small knife in front of her. The buzzing sound continued. Kara pushed the blanket aside and looked frantically around her for the source.

It took her a few seconds to recognize her surroundings. She had slept in the staff room on a couch in the corner with her rolled up jacket as her pillow and her blanket – Mr. Kar had fortunately neglected to rip it apart. As a habit she always slept with her knife under the pillow. The only weapon she could own that wouldn’t raise suspicion.

She followed the persistent buzzing sound with a foggy mind. Her eyelids still felt heavy and her mind had yet to catch up. She stood in front of a locker and as soon as she realized that it was her own, everything became clear. It was the sound of her beacon device! Last night she had briefly reported about her little adventure. Only sent the pictures and deliberately skipped the part about her near death and screw up experience. Even as she knew it was against her code, but last night was overwhelming and she hadn’t actually withheld information, it was just summarized and without details.

Kara rushed to open the locker and scrambled through her clothes and found it with the torn chain. It was glowing orange and it grew silent as soon as she touched it. A message. Kara looked around. No one was in the room. It was still too early for the staff to come she guessed. She had no idea what the time was. There was no windows.

She hurried to the rest room just to be sure no one would walk in on her, and opened the encrypted message.

<<B35 DELAYED. >>

B35 was Alex. Alex was delayed?! What has happened? Another message appeared.

<<PROCEED…>>

She was about to shout at the stupid device for giving her the same words even in the face of Alex being in trouble, but then it glowed orange and more words appeared.

<<PROCEED TO CONTACT A MEMBER. >>

A member was referring to a member of the rebellion. They had agreed to call them simply as members. But Kara didn’t have any contacts! Alex was supposed to take her to them! Kara felt really concerned. Something was wrong. She thought Alex would call her about these days, and not to mention she was planning to send her a beacon today to tell her about what was going on with her. She hesitantly typed in a message telling them about her lack of contact with a member and waited for an answer. Meanwhile she decided to send a message to Alex anyway.

After a full ten minutes, while Kara was fidgeting with the chain nervously, her answer came through from the base.

<<A LOCATION WILL BE TRANSMITTED IN A FEW DAYS. FIND B35 STAT>>

Find 35 stat? That meant Alex was missing! Kara was now beyond worried. Now her mission was to find out what had happened to Alex. She confirmed her new mission before the device turned off.

Kara went to wash her face. Apart from her wide worried eyes, she looked much better than last night. Changing back into her uniform, Kara checked her watch. It was noon already and she was starving. They didn’t serve meals to the staff in the club, but there were some snacks and she decided to go hunting for them in the kitchens.

There was no one there either. Kara scavenged in the fridge storage and some cupboards, managing to make herself a small sandwich with a kind of meat she wasn’t sure what it was, but didn’t care about at this point. Her stomach felt like a hole in her middle. Kara washed her meal down with some water and sat on a stool, thinking what she should do.

Her thoughts wandered to Kai Rand again. The mysterious Moon River owner. Kara couldn’t figure him out. She had to keep an eye on him, had to stay ready to flee at any sign of trouble or royal guards.

She sneaked out of the kitchens, deciding to look around the club, maybe even finding Kai Rand’s office to snoop around it. The memory of last night was clear in Kara’s mind. She had been super clumsy and had to be more careful. Kara sadly admitted to herself that despite her initial confidence and belief in her training, the real world had been far more complicated. She wasn’t quick with planning and scheming as she thought she would be. In training she felt much calmer and her brain could form ideas much faster. But last night? She had gone completely blank. All she was good, was to punch through everything. She even feared to fail the mission right now and it was such a horrible feeling that gnawed her from inside.

She watched for the hidden cameras around the club. Mr. Rand must have seen her last night when she’d gone to the VIP section.

No other soul was around and most parts of the building were dark. She felt spooked. Was this when they came to take her or kill her? She walked on her toes, careful not to make a sound. Walking close to a wall when she reached a turn, and sneaked a peek to see if someone was there. She saw a door at the end of hallway. It was his office. It had to be. The high security board protecting the door was hard to miss. The door was protected with bio-metric passwords. She knew some of the techs could be manipulated by her gadget, but she didn’t want to risk it right now. Kai Rand seemed much smarter than that. He could be even watching her right now, or even standing right behind her! She was totally paranoid and actually looked over her shoulder to find the corridor empty. She let out a breath and tried to calm herself. This wasn’t the right time. She needed to gather more information. She walked back to the main salon of the bar. He was there, silently sitting and drinking at the bar! What was he doing here at this hour? To keep an eye on her?

Kara slowly got closer. Maybe if they talked, she could find out more about him.

“Marley! I was wondering what trouble you’ve got yourself into this time!” He startled her with his loud voice.

Kara was still 10 feet away and he had his back to her, so he must have caught her reflection in the mirrors behind the numerous bottles on the shelves in front him. As she got closer, without answering him, Kara saw he was sipping at a colorless liquid – club soda. Kara went to stand behind the bar across from him.

“Mr. Rand… I wanted to talk to you, actually, I was looking for you.”

He seemed a bit looser than last night, though not drunk. His steel blue eyes were focused and clear behind the thick frame glasses, and he was in changed clothes, decent and shiny again.

Meeting his silence, Kara fidgeted with her glasses. “Yes, well…about last night –“

“Do you know how much I’ve been drinking since last night to wash away the sand from my throat?”

Kara frowned a bit at his complain and crossed her arms. “Well you should have at least used a napkin to cover your face! Haven’t you ever been into a sand storm before?”

Kai Rand smirked at her, continuing to sip at his glass. “Well I’d never met someone stupid enough to stay out in the sand storm to actually go out and save them.”

Kara blushed with anger. Why did he try to piss her off and change the subject every time?

“No one asked you to come out! Mr. Rand…” She suddenly tried to wash the bitterness from her words. She couldn’t afford to insult this man.

He seemed completely unaffected by her short outburst and even a bit amused, like he enjoyed pushing Kara to see her reactions. Putting down his empty glass, he stood up and stared at Kara. “Let’s face it Marley, you were playing a very dangerous game last night.”

“You never let me explain myself!”

“Then tell me what you were doing last night.” He mimicked Kara’s pose and folded his arms in front of his chest, his previous humor seemingly gone.

Kara kept his glare for a few seconds. This was going to be the hardest thing she’d ever done, even harder than being in the cross fire of five guns.

“I was trying to find out some information about… some smugglers.”

“And why would you need that?”

“To find someone who can take me back to my planet.” It’d crossed her mind that her back up story, about being an Earthling trapped on Daxam, could be an acceptable cover up.

“You mean Earth?” Obviously Kai Rand had done his homework. He knew all the details of her profile which she had submitted on her first day at work.

“Yes. I have tried to go back to Earth, but haven’t found anyone who travels that far.”

“And you thought eavesdropping on some random merchants would help you find someone?” His lips curved into a smirk again. She wasn’t convincing enough.

“I know it sounds crazy, but I’m desperate Mr. Rand! I need to go back to Earth! It’s been five years! I heard them talking about shipping to far sides of the galaxy and It got me curious enough to try and find out more.”

“And what about your sister? Lexie Danvers, was it? Does she want to go back too?” He squinted at her.

Kara’s heart stopped at his question. How did he know? She actually looked around the salon for any movements, fearing an attack to take place on her right about now.

Kai Rand unfolded his arms and raised them in the air. “Look, you don’t need to fear me. I found out about your sister on the system. There are two Danvers registered in Telos, so I figured you must be sisters. I don’t care about the reason why you did what you did last night, anymore. Just don’t do it again. Keep your head down and do your job. You don’t know how things work around here, and if you try things like that again, you end up dead, or worse.”

Kara couldn’t tell if he was rally telling the truth, but maybe Kai Rand was just a business man who didn’t care about politics, letting her stay around as long as she didn’t screw up again.

“Can I ask why you are giving me a second chance? I thought it’s not a Daxamite way.” Kara had to ask him, wanting to know his motives.

Kara watched as his jaw clenched and eyes sparkled. “There are a lot of things on Daxam, I don’t agree with.”

They kept their eyes locked on each other for a moment, before Kai Rand broke the eye contact to check his watch. “I have to go.”

Kara only nodded, watching him disappear through the club entrance door, leaving her alone to contemplate on his strange behavior.

*

The weekend two days after that day, was quite uneventful. Kai Rand had been gone since their talk and nothing else had happened, no guards showing up to arrest her and no one questioned her. Kara did her job and slept on the couch, waiting. To her disappointment, the beacon device didn’t transmit any more messages to her. Not the base and not even Alex, neither send her anything.

Kara was wandering in the city that morning. The Garata Fest was ending today and streets were crowded with people from various races, trying to enjoy the last day. During the fest, dragons would fight in a pit, while everyone bet on them and today the final fight would take place. A fight that would reveal the winner of this competition, blessing the dragon’s owner with a mount of gold from the betting. The loser wouldn’t be so lucky. At the very least he would be bank rubbed and left with a dead dragon.

Kara never went to the fight pit as she despised the violence so much. What was the point of watching the poor creatures forced to fight their own kind for the pleasure of other animals who called themselves evolved and civilized?

She kept to herself while looking around, trying to find a room so she could finally move to. Kara wasn’t planning to count on Kai Rand’s kindness for too long.

With the help of a few other waitresses, Kara found some places that had cheap rooms. After two days of room hunting, Kara found a landlord who promised her a room in a week. Kara went back to the club with an easier mind. Now she knew she would have a place to sleep soon, but of course that was a minor victory compered to all her problems. First of all, she had no income yet. Kara just had to survive this week and then she would be officially hired and could manage to pay the rent and finally buy some food. She was getting sick of just eating small sandwiches and drinking club soda for the past four days.

*

It was passed midnight and Kara was attending to a table, bringing their orders, politely asking them if they needed anything else. The club was considerably quieter than the previous week. Owing to the fact that the Garata Fest was over, a lot of the travelers and gamblers had left Daxam. There were only regulars hanging around, lazily seeping at their drinks. Even the music seemed slow and boring, not luring anyone to the dance floor. Kara went back to sit on a stool since there was nothing for her to do for now. She saw Dana was free as well, leaning her elbows on the counter, observing the salon tiredly. Last week had been a lot to handle for her, especially when she had to do some of Mr. Rand’s paper work as well. Once again her thoughts had wandered towards that man. Why would he skip his responsibilities? Kara inwardly groaned at feeling resentment and gratefulness at the same time for him, again.

“You’re one lucky girl!”

Dana’s voice drew Kara out of her thought.

“Excuse me?” Kara asked with a smile, not sure if Dana was actually talking to her.

Dana smirked and tilted her head. “Mr. Rand send me a message yesterday, telling me to hire you one week before the default period for a new hire!”

Kara looked at Dana in disbelief. “He did WHAT?”

“Oh yeah, you’re getting a pay check by the end of this week.”

Kara forced a laugh.

“Tell me, what did you do to him? When did you even see him?” Dana squinted at Kara suspiciously.

“I didn’t do anything! He… ehm… he saw me outside early morning, the day I asked you to let me stay in the club!” Kara blabbered, keeping all the details to herself deliberately.

Seeing Dana’s suspicion still unshaken on her face, Kara added.

“Remember I told you I’m homeless? Well, he let me stay in the club until I find a room and so… he must have tried to help me with hiring me sooner than normal…” she tailed off.

Dana rolled her eyes dramatically. “Of course you won his soft heart, Marley! With those damn blue eyes of yours, you win anyone’s heart!”

“That is not true!”

“Oh, you oblivious space puppy! Haven’t you seen how men check you out when you walk around? And not just men, I must say!”

“What!?” Kara blushed uncomfortably.

Dana didn’t elaborate on her explanation and only shook her head in disappointment and also looking a bit amused.

“So, you mean he’d never done such thing for anyone?” Kara asked, trying to change the subject back to Kai Rand. Since Dana was in a talkative mood, this was Kara’s best chance to find out more about him.

“Well, he has helped a few of the staff around the years, helping them buy a house or things like that. So you’re not the first he’s taken interest in, but you are the fastest one he’d fallen for yet!”

Suspiciously getting into trouble with filthy thugs, pretending to be businessmen, surely was more than enough reason to pick his interest _._ Kara though to herself.

“He may seem all cold and hard on the outside, but his a softy. Of course not kind enough to not dump all the paper works on me or Don the accountant!” Dana added to her description, her face turning into a scowl.

“Who is he really?” Kara tried to sound more rhetorical than curious.

Dana sighed. “I don’t know much about him. He keeps a lot to himself, but I heard he’s the son of a not so famous merchant who died three years ago, leaving him a handsome heritage and he decided to build Moon River with it.”

Kara took all these details to memory, planning to investigate Kai Rand’s family later.

“Thinking about marrying him?” Dana teased her with a smirk and wiggled her brows, at seeing Kara in deep thought.

Kara was about to protest Dana, when she felt her spy beacon vibrate against her chest under her shirt, making her jump a bit.

Kara had to find some private place ASAP. “Sorry, I just remembered I have to check with the kitchen for an order.”

Dana waved at her.  “Fine, go. Run! But we both know you totally seduced Kai Rand!”

Kara fidgeted with her glasses and forced a smile, before heading for the back door with a red face. She rushed to a storage room where they kept the cleaning supplies and tools. Locking the door behind her, Kara brought out her device – hanging from a repaired chain – and opened the message.

It was a location. Nothing more.

*

Kara panted hard behind the scarf protecting her face from the intense heat and wind that carried sand grains, throwing them at her skin like tiny needles.

She had started this journey in the morning, finding her way to the out skirts of Telos on a borrowed speeder, and into the desert on foot. It was taking too long and now it was getting dark.

Looking at the sea of sand around her, Kara stopped and removed her make shift mask – there was no need for it anymore. Everything looked the same in this Rao forsaken place. No land mark, no buildings and not even a rock. She checked her device for the thousand time for the location. She was in the EXACT location she had been the past half hour ago she’d checked! How was that possible?! Kara groaned and shook the device in frustration. Maybe it had a glitch or something.

It was completely dark now. Kara felt the stress taking over her other senses, blocking the logical part of her brain from functioning, much like that damn night at the club. If she couldn’t find the rebel base, she had to survive the night in the desert with little provision. Kara calmed herself and tried to form a plan in her head. She hadn’t practiced in such environment before, but she decided to trust her training to get through it.

First thing to do was finding a safe place.

Kara turned her flash light on, which was almost useless to show her anything from far in that vast expanse. She bounced the bag on her back, trying to loosen her stiff shoulders after six hours of walking, and walked in the direction of a small hill she had spotted before the dark.

Walking tiredly to the top of the hill, Kara threw the light in the lower ground, hoping to find a rock or a small pit.

Nothing.

Kara checked the location again. It was still frozen, and the technicians on Krypton had ensured her that the chances of the device to glitch were next to zero. Tucking it back in her pocket, she gazed at the sky full of stars. In any other occasion, she would enjoy this remarkable scenery. The stars were shimmering magnificently, almost hypnotically. They were in infinity and yet seemed to be so close to touch. Daxam’s two small moon were also glowing dimly in the shape of similar crescents close to each other.

Pushing aside her wonder, Kara tried to find directions with the stars. She kept her head up despite the protest of her tired neck muscles and searched for a particular star, she knew would show her north. If she was in west of Telos, then she had to walk east to go back to the city. As plan B, Kara could just walk back another six hours. She wasn’t THAT far from Telos.

Turning around to find the constellation, she felt her boots sunk into the soft sand and suddenly she was rolling down the hill side in the dark, coming to stop slowly, partially covered in the still warm sand. Though the fall was relatively short and soft, she felt disoriented in the dark. Kara’s flashlight had slipped out of her hand and she tasted the bitterness of sand on her tongue.

She shook her body to remove the sand, while spiting the sands out. Kara frantically sat up to look around for the flashlight, but couldn’t spot its white beam. The dim light from the stars was the only thing she had now.

Muttering complains under her breath, Kara reached for her bottle in the bag and gulped down a mouthful of the water before realizing it was almost empty. Great! Soon she would be out of water too.

She was about to get her feet under herself to stand, when she heard the rattle. A low vibrating sound, clear in the dead silence of the desert, coming from her right. Unable to guess what was making the sound, Kara froze as she felt it coming closer to her.

Kara stopped breathing when she saw the long, slim and leathery form of a hideous creature emerging, slithering with its soft body. The end of its tail oscillated continuously which could answer her question about the source of the rattling sound, if her eyes weren’t locked on the two raised heads on the top of this reptile.

Four glowing eyes had kept Kara locked under their gaze. The reflection of stars in them glinting ominously and deathly. Kara felt her heart rate spike with fear. She was paralyzed and her hands were strained behind her while holding her weight.

Before she could do anything, the two headed snake moved dangerously closer to her legs. Kara almost felt faint when it moved one of its coils around her right foot, its light weight pushing her foot down into the sand.

“Don’t .Move.”

The hushed male voice broke Kara’s haze of fear and helplessness. It could have made her jump if she didn’t feel so weak in the face of two pair of poisonous fangs hovering only a feet from her face, but she didn’t even flinch. She wasn’t sure she hadn’t imagine the voice.

Quiet footsteps followed the order for her to keep still, and then silence.

For long minutes, Kara kept switching her stare between each narrow slit eye. Watching its two long tongues snapping in and out from between their sharp fangs repeatedly, smelling her. The occasional rattling sound was the only thing filling her ears.

Kara’s hands were about to give out, her whole body numb. Was she even breathing anymore? And finally after what felt like an eternity, it moved pass her feet, softly sliding away. She let out a shaky breath, never taking her eyes off the little monster that was still near enough to attack.

She slowly bent her elbows, not able to keep them straight anymore. It was such a small move, but the snake hissed and jumped on Kara like a coiled spring going free, both mouths wide open, their fangs directed right at her throat.

Kara had automatically screwed her eyes closed when the snake jumped, accepting her fate. But then she felt a strong hand wrapping around her waist, throwing her aside and a loud crunching sound put an end to the hissing and rattle.

Kara opened her eyes immediately. A dark tall figure was crouching in front of her, facing the now motionless snake. Kara took shallow and shaky breaths, not feeling strong enough to stand right away. She felt so angry at herself. Kara was trained to react in dangerous situation, then why had she frozen when it attacked?

The man turned around to face her. Kara looked at him with wonder. Who in the world was this person? Where had he even come from?

“Are you alright?”

His voice was muffled from behind a scarf and in his eyes were also hidden behind a pair goggles. Kara saw he held a long knife in his hand.

“Yeah I’m fine.” Kara quickly managed to stand on her slightly trembling legs and answered the stranger with a pitched voice. “Thanks for saving me.”

The man didn’t say anything while cleaning and sheathing his knife. Kara looked at the snake with one detached head in disgust. “Is it dead?” she asked, doubting it could still live with one head.

He just nodded and handed her something. It was her flash light, but it was turned off.

“Keep it turned off.” He instructed.

Moving past her, the man walked along the hill side, then stopped and turned back to look at Kara, silently asking her to follow him. Kara gladly took fast steps to close the distance between them, not wanting to be alone in the dark, near even the dead body of that beast.

Walking closely behind her savior, Kara kept her eyes open on the sand for any kind of danger. All her senses were heightened as her skin crawled remembering the snake.

After minutes propelling her tired feet in the sand, in a seemingly random path, Kara tried to engage her mind with other thoughts to decrease her nervousness. _Should I even follow him?_ _What if he wants to kill me? But if he wanted to do that, he could have just let the snake finish the job!_ _How can he even see in this dark?! Wait, maybe he has night vision goggles, yes! That explains. Wish I had one… and why shouldn’t I use my flashlight? Is it because of the snakes? That’s ridiculous! No, maybe his one of the Rebels! Maybe we would be found out?_

Her silent companion stopped short, making Kara pump into his back. Something about this felt a bit familiar.

Squinting in the darkness, Kara couldn’t see anything special about this location. She was about to ask the man, when he crouched down, reaching for something in the sand and following a faint beeping sound, Kara gasped as she saw a small circular door opened in front of their feet, next to a small rock.

The man nodded at her to go inside. Kara hesitated at first, but what was to think about now? This was what she was looking for, after all. So she gathered her bearings and moved down into that empty pitch darkness lying beneath the sands.

 

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading. Hopefully I'll update in two weeks. life's getting hectic the closer we get to September. Also I've been busy writing the 2nd part of "a Love Reset" spin off.  
> Thank you so much for your patience. Xx


	9. DEO

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry for not updating this fic as regularly as before. I'm kinda busy with life and also I hit a writing block so it's been taking me a while.  
> Just want you to know I'm not abandoning this story and I will get you to the end of it no matter how long it takes. I have fully planned this. So no worries.

Clutching at the invisible ladder, Kara descended into the blackness carefully. The stranger followed her suit shortly, closing the trap door above him. Just as the door clicked locked, a lamp turned on, piercing her eye balls. Kara had to blink repeatedly until her irises were narrow enough to adjust with torrent of light, allowing her to finally see her surroundings.

Kara reached the bottom of the fixed metallic ladder and moved away so her follower could step down as well. They were standing in a narrow dusty corridor. Kara turned and inspected the tall man better in the light. He was wearing a cream, torn cloak with dark boots reaching just below his knees. Despite being indoors, he still kept his mouth cloth and goggles on, which seemed weird. Kara was about to ask who he was, when he started walking forward without a care for her. This was getting annoying now.

“Excuse me, where are we going?”

No answer.

Kara sighed and followed him in the narrow grey hallway, hoping to get more answers when they reached their destination. She hadn’t even bothered asking him for his name, knowing questioning a masked man for his identity would be ridiculous, defeating the whole purpose of the mask.

The pair reached a door and he promptly entered. In the room two people were sitting behind a metallic table, facing the door. Kara noticed some computers and equipment that had seen better days. Some of the monitors were on, but she didn’t spot anything special at the first glance.

 The man with darker skin raised his head and watched them with an unimpressed look, while the other occupant in the room – who had lighter skin and short black hair – watched them with his wide blue eyes.

With a nod to the masked man, the dark skinned man stood up and greeted Kara.

“You must be Marley, Lexie’s sister.”

“How…” Kara asked, knowing the answer already.

“Lexie mentioned you will be joining us soon, but unfortunately she’s missing. I’m sure you’re aware of this?”

Kara swallowed hard, her throat too dry after everything that had happened in the past hour. “Yeah, she… she said she would call me and take me here… but she didn’t show up and I’m worried.”

“She gave you this location?”

“Yes, she gave me the location the last time I saw her, and warned to not come here until she said so. But I got worried and decided to come.”

“Please sit down, we need to talk.”

Kara moved to sit on an old looking chair, facing the others. Her mysterious savior was now sitting next to the third person in the room – both looking at her silently.

“Would you like a drink?” The dark skinned man offered.

“Yes, thank you.”

Giving Kara a cup of unfamiliar flavored drink – which Kara had no idea what it was, but it washed her insides like nothing she had ever drank before on Daxam – he also sat down on his chair.

“I’m called the Martian. The last of my kind. I’m the director of the DEO.”

“DEO?”

“Daxam’s Eight Opposition”

Kara frowned. Why hadn’t anyone mentioned this name in the briefings? She pushed the questions to the back of her mind and focused her attention on what the Martian was saying.

“This opposition has only recently formed. The seventh opposition was annihilated four years ago with the brutal death of its former leader, Damo. He tried to unite all the rebels on Daxam with the help of King Lar Gand, but his plans failed with the death of the king, many members were hunted down by royal guards and the remaining members ran away.”

The Martian paused for a moment and Kara saw the masked man shifted uncomfortably in his seat. Then he continued.

“Damo stayed, but was arrested and in a public execution, was decapitated. Since then there has been no real activity among the Rebels. There are only a few of us left. Nevertheless, some of us are ready to form another opposition and recruit members. We started about a year ago and we are keep growing in number.”

Kara raised a brow. “How many? Because you seem very few right now.”

The Martian smiled. “Not everyone comes to the base. We are plenty. Tonight though, it’s me, Toyman,“ he pointed at the dark haired man , sitting in the middle – who smiled nervously at Kara – “ and Valor” he pointed at the masked man who gave a slight nod.

Kara memorized the unusual names quickly, deciding to ask about them later. “So what happened to my sister?”

The Martian didn’t answer right away. Putting his elbows on the table, he laced his fingers together.

“Your sister has been a very important member in the DEO. She has helped gathering many intel besides saving many lives with her skill as a physician. A few months ago, we became aware of the suspicious activities of a high class criminal syndicate called _The Beasts_. They seem to be closely working with the regime and lately they have been shipping unusual deliveries to an unknown location, or locations, we’re not sure. These are not their usual pattern. They never do shipping, these are for lower class criminals. Therefore this has raised our suspicion as to what they might be doing for the queen. It must be something very secret and vital to the queen’s plan. Possibly a secret weapon. I wouldn’t put it past her, considering her history.”

Valor made a huffing sound and the Martian smirked a bit before completing his narrative.

“Well, if you have seen half what we are aware of going on, on Daxam, you would be worried for another war to come and this time Daxam will not survive. The queen may have convinced herself otherwise, but we want to stop her now, if not forever. So that’s why we needed someone to infiltrate the Beasts to find out more about what they’re doing. Lexie volunteered and she was supposed to contact us every week but we haven’t heard from her for the past three weeks.”

“THREE WEEKS?” Kara screamed as she jumped from her chair.

“Calm down Marley, I know you’re worried for her. We all are. We’ll find her.”

Kara glared at the Martian who had raised to his feet as well, trying to calm her. “You should have contacted me sooner! I stayed away only because she asked me to and all this time she had been missing!”

She knew half her words were lies. Deep down, she blamed herself and the SKIS base for notifying her this late.

The Martian shook his head. “We didn’t know how much she had told you about us and to be honest, she shouldn’t have given you this location. And it’s not that late. It’s possible she’s following a lead or something and can’t find a safe place to contact us yet. We don’t want to rush and blow her cover for just being worried.”

“But it’s been THREE weeks! We can’t just do nothing! What if they have intercepted her transmission?”

The dark haired man – Toyman – stood up, stammering. “That’s a… that’s not possible. My communicating devices are untraceable.”

Kara gave him an unconvinced look.

“Toyman is our tech expert. There has been no mistake in his record.” The Martian added.

“There’s a first for everything.” Kara muttered under her breath. Toyman seemed upset. She blamed their crude devices for Alex’s disappearance. Their cutting edge Kryptonian gadgets were unhackable and reliable.

“We need to find the Beasts so we can find Lexie.” Kara declared.

The Martian nodded. “That seems to be the only way to find her, but it’s easier said than done. It’s too dangerous to approach them without alerting the others. We should wait –“

“We can’t wait anymore! She could be DEAD! We should do this tomorrow!”

Despite all her training to be rational and calm, Kara was freaking out. She was starting to see her friendship with Alex was making her this way, but couldn’t help herself.

The three men observed Kara in silence for a moment, as if thinking whether they should listen to her or not. The Martian then turned to watch the others, touching his chin repeatedly, apparently deep in thought.

He finally returned his eyes to Kara. “Very well, we can track one of the lower rank Beasts tomorrow. “

Kara nodded with relief. “Who?”

“A drug smuggler named Cor-Gan.”

Kara gasped. “Are you kidding me?”`

“You know him?”

“Not Exactly, but we had a sort of disagreement a few weeks ago.” Kara nervously adjusted her glasses. The masked man – Valor – scoffed and crossed his hands. Something about his pose was familiar, but Kara ignored him.

The Martian frowned. “Would he recognize you?”

“No, he won’t. He was too drugged or drunk."

“Good. I assume you are up for this task, tracking down Cor-Gan?”

“Of course, I can handle this. I know where he usually is in late hours.” Kara firmly nodded.

The Martian nodded as well and turned to look at Valor. “You go with Marley.”

Kara protested. “I can do this ON MY OWN!”

Valor shook his head which made Kara even more irritated, more than his insistence to stay silent or covering his face.

The Martian raised an eyebrow at Kara. “You are very new among us Marley. I have never seen you in action and I won’t let unexperienced assets go alone on a mission. They are liabilities.”

Although Kara wanted to object about being inexperienced, she remembered in their eyes she was only Marley Danvers, Lexie’s younger sister who has just decided to help this opposition.

“Fine. I’ll go with Valor.” Kara conceded.

“Excellent. We plan in the morning. You can sleep in one of the cots in the back rooms.” The Martian moved to the door to show the way. She was a bit hesitant to stay here, but what else could she do? Sleeping under the stars with snakes?

“How big is this place?” Kara shuffled to catch up to him as they walked down the dusty hallway. She could hear the other’s foot steps behind her.

“It is quite spacious. One of the few bunkers that has survived the army raids over the past years. With Toyman’s help we have managed to keep it hidden from all sorts of radars. Nothing electronic works in a two mile radios from here.”

So that was why Kara’s device had glitched. But that shouldn’t have happened. Her Kryptonian tech should have surpassed that. Kara started to see why they put so much trust in him. She then noticed the others weren’t following them anymore and turned to see they had gone into another room.

The Martian stopped in front of a rusty door. “Here. Also, the bathroom is at the end of the hallway. Only the lighting has a problem there. The wires are worn and short circuit sometimes. One of us will wake you in the morning.”

He nodded and left Kara.

 _Just don’t send Valor, ‘cause I wouldn’t be able to hear him!_ Kara smirked at her own joke while putting down her bag beside the wooden bed, looking around the small room. Obviously no one has been here for a long time and no one has bothered to clean it. She examined the bed and coughed when a cloud of dust dispersed in the air.

“Damn I miss the couch in Moon River!” Kara complained as she turned the sheets over to the cleaner side, took off her boots and forced herself under the cold cover. The bed cricked horribly loud with even her slightest movements. Though she was tired, it was really hard to sleep in this unfamiliar place. Not to mention her socks were filled with sand, but she didn’t want to take them off. Kara tried to distract herself and checked her beacon device one more time. It still seemed frozen. What if it was damaged for good? She returned it back under her clothes. Stirring to her left side, Kara tried to find a more comfortable position.

Just as her eyelids were becoming heavier – after what seemed an hour – Kara felt she needed to go to the bathroom.

“Are you kidding me?”

She huffed to herself in disbelief.

 

*

 

After a cold breakfast, Kara was back in the same room they had talked in last night. They sat around the table, a cube was projecting 3D blue prints of Cor-Gon’s house in the air among them. Kara was slightly amazed that they had acquired such a high tech device.

The man called Toyman, was explaining to them how to break in his house – or rather his mansion.

“The building is covered with electric fences, but there’s a hidden spot on the north-east side, that connects the fence to the main power source and can be temporarily shut down for you to get inside.”

He pointed at a specific spot on the blue hologram and it turned red, then he continued.

“When you get in, you can use the servant’s door on the west side. The camera’s there are an old design and can be easily blocked with my emf mini bombs.”

“The servant’s door is unlocked?” Kara asked while memorizing the passage from that door to the main rooms.

“It’s locked in the late hours, but it practically has no security. Completely easy to pick the lock. Valor is very crafty with the locks. He can get you inside easy peasy.”

Kara gave Valor – who had been as quiet as always – a side glance. His mask and goggles were still in place. The Martian nodded at Toyman’s explanation and added.

“That is the best way in. You only need to keep an eye out for other camera’s and guards.”

He then placed a small syringe on the table before Kara and Valor.

“This should loosen him up enough to talk and he wouldn’t remember anything in the morning.”

“Are you sure this won’t kill him?” Kara asked, suspiciously eyeing the syringe.

“Positive. It has worked a few time. Works on weak people very well.”

“He’s always half drunk or drugged. Wouldn’t that affect this drug? ”

“No. We don’t think so.”

“You don’t think so? Who even made this drug?” Kara couldn’t believe this drug could so easily work on people. They had no labs and equipment here. How could they have managed to make such an effective drug? It sounded too good to be true.

“Your sister actually helped us develop it.” The Toyman exclaimed.

“What?! A- Lexie made this?” Kara was so amazed that she was about to slip Alex’s real name.

The Martian confirmed. “Yes, she has used it on some occasions. So we are going to get the information using this shot and there will be no traces left behind. It would get really difficult if the Beasts knew we are snooping around. To the Queen we are apparently so few that she doesn’t feel a threat from us. But if they become aware of what we are doing, the guards would hunt us down again and we can’t afford that right now.”

He handed the Syringe to Kara, who put it securely in her pocket, and continued.

“Cor-Gan may be on some business tonight, so you need to follow him from the Garata Head to see where he goes and confront him ONLY if his alone in the house. Otherwise the chances are slim to succeed in this mission. You should head to the city in an hour and stand watch at the bar.”

He ended his briefing and walked away. Valor followed him, seemingly wanting to talk to him. Though Kara felt really worried and wanted to rush in and find out about Alex’s whereabouts, she had to follow this plan. It seemed like a good plan.

“Here, these are the emf micro bombs I told you about.”

Toyman handed Kara three metallic small orbs the size a marble.

“Thanks, Toyman.”

“Please don’t call me that! Call me Winn.” The man gave Kara a genuine smile, offering her his hand.

Kara gave his hand a friendly shake, smiling. “Nice to meet you Winn. You can call me Marley.”

“Lexie said some things about you the last time I saw her here.”

“Like what?” Kara’s curiosity was piqued.

“Like we can trust you. So there’s no need for those code names for you. I always trust Lexie. She saved my life when I had a dangerous infection from an injury. So if she says you’re a good person, I trust you too.”

Kara was touched by Winn’s quick trust in herself. Some part of her though was worried how he would judge her I he knew her real identity. “Thank you. I… I try to do my best.”

They both stayed silent uncomfortably for a few seconds. Kara saw Winn blushed and decided to start a conversation.

“So… what about Valor? What’s his name?”

“Oh, I want to know that too! He never takes off his mask.”

“Aren’t you worried that his a mole?”

“Well it does seem suspicious, but the Martian trusts him and he’s kind of a really important member in the DEO. Rumor has it, he was the first person to stand up to gather the rebels for the eighth opposition.”

“Is that so?” Kara looked with wonder at where Valor was talking with the Martian. “Is he always this quiet?”

Winn scratched his head. “Not all the time. But he’s been unusually quiet since he brought you in last night. But then again, he’s always been keeping to himself.”

Kara was starting to think Valor had a problem with her. Winn could read that on her face.

“Don’t worry, he’ll come around. I guess it’s because you’re new around here. You can trust him though. He always does the job clean.”

“Ok, thanks for telling me. And what about the Martian? Do you know his name?”

Winn gave her a forced laugh. “I do, but I’m not sure he’d be pleased if I tell you. I guess you should ask him yourself. I don’t like to see what he looks like when he’s angry with me.”

“Oh, okay.”

 

*

 

Kara and Valor were crouching behind a dumpster, watching the bar. The twilight has made it dark enough for them to completely stay hidden from the by passers. Cor-Gan had come in earlier than usual and they had to wait for him to come out on his own time – which was completely unpredictable with his record in drinking and erratic behavior.

Kara had taken a page out of Valor’s book and had covered her face. The two hadn’t spoken a word since leaving the base. Kara had checked the spy beacon device in her room one more time before leaving, but it still wasn’t working. She didn’t had any time to check on it afterwards either. Kara had decided to report to the base after accomplishing this task, hopefully with news from Alex’s status.

It was well past midnight when Cor-Gan stumbled out of the bar. Kara clenched her fists at the sight of him, only the memory of breaking his nose gave her satisfaction. Valor shifted soundlessly next to her, flexing his muscles from numbness after staying motionless for hours. They watched as Cor-Gan was escorted by two body guards to a luxurious vehicle, hovering mesmerizingly a feet above the ground. The body guards got inside as well.

“Watch them, I bring the speeder around.”

Valor murmured to Kara with a hoarse voice, disappearing into the darkness where he had parked the bike without waiting for her answer. Kara was only glad that he was speaking.

Kara came out of the hiding and cautiously watched. Just when the vehicle carrying their person of interest turned left into another street, Kara saw Valor on the bike slowing down towards her – not stopping completely – and hopped behind him.

They followed Cor-Gan skillfully. Valor was clearly experienced in such tasks and since Kara knew the basic tricks of following a subject (she had been on a similar mission with Alex) she saw how he always kept the distance, never getting too close, hiding behind other vehicles, stopping occasionally to mislead anyone who would suspect them.

Valor halted the speeder in a safe distance from the mansion, on a higher ground, giving them a vantage point. Cor-Gan’s hovercraft vehicle had smoothly pulled inside the yard and doors securely closed behind them. Kara desperately wished she could use her device to put it into the camera mode, zoom into the yard to watch Cor-Gan. They still weren’t sure if he was alone – besides the guards.

“How do we know if he’s alone?!” Kara asked Valor, projecting her concern.

He simply drew out a small binocular out of his clothes and watched the movements in the front yard with it.

“He’s alone.” He stated shortly.

“May I?” Kara stretched her hand over his shoulder, demanding him to give her the binocular. Valor handed it to her and Kara wasted no time to inspect the scene.

Cor-Gan was climbing the few steps to his front door with difficulty, while a servant was helping him. It was obvious he had no other guests or business to attend to in this state.

Satisfied with her founding, Kara took the binoculars off her eyes. They could do this tonight. It was their chance. “Good. We should go now to find that spot Winn showed us.”

Kara vaguely noticed Valor nodded in the darkness and they went around the building to get closer to the north-east side, where they could defuse the fences. Valor parked his bike behind a rock and they sneaked closer to the fences. Kara was ahead about to take a step when she sensed Valor gripping her shoulder and making her stop. She wanted to shake his hand away, not realizing why he would do that, but he pointed at a camera scanning just where she was about to put her feet. Cursing her recklessness, Kara nodded at him and waited for the camera to turn the other side. She couldn’t help but notice how Valor had not let go of her shoulder immediately.

After some minutes, the pair made it to their destination. The thick cable was easily revealed from under a feet of dirt and sand. Valor drew out a small rectangular object from his chest pocket and put it on the cable, causing all the projectors, cameras and the fence to shut down. Kara moved to the now safe fence and cut through it with her laser cutter neatly. They had about 40 minutes to find Cor-Gan and get information from him and get out before the power was back on.

Kara and Valor entered the yard without anyone seeing them.


	10. Abort

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mon-El’s POV

Mon-El had never had such confusing feelings for anyone. He always knew how he felt about his parents, his acquaintances or the rebellion members, but Marley was somehow different. She managed to get under his skin in a way no one else had ever succeeded.

He knew every single one of his staff very well. He would check all their backgrounds and ties, and chose them wisely. Marley Danvers was certainly an unusual addition to the Moon River and being Lexie’s younger sister – the sister she had claimed would join them at DEO soon – she piqued his interest.

Had Lexie told her sister to come to Moon River? Lexie was one of the few people in the DEO who knew he was Kai Rand. Mon-El thoroughly went through Marley’s data and tried to keep an eye on her, not knowing how much she knew about the rebels.

On that fateful night, when he had prepared everything for Kus-Gar and his gang to come to Moon River and get settled in a VIP room – to make them spill their plans to him – Marley had marched in and almost ruined everything. Almost. After stepping inside just in time to prevent a very nasty situation from occurring, he managed to coax them with strong drinks to gather some intel about the future shipping or specific orders from the royalties. However, he couldn’t make them tell him any important information. He sensed Kus-Gar had turned a bit alarmed after Marley and didn’t drink as much as he usually would.

Marley’s impulsive and reckless behavior pissed him off. Clearly she knew about the rebels and was trying to eavesdrop on them in such an idiotic and dangerous manner, causing him to interfere and save her. He usually didn’t step so far for anyone. He was constantly in danger of being found out by his mother’s eyes and ears around Telos, but being Lexie’s sister, he couldn’t just let her be found out so easily. So he took the risk and was even more frustrated to find Marley angry with him for not defending her honor.

He wanted to shout at her that night so badly, but seeing her almost hurt by those men and then later crouching hopelessly outside in the storm, something stirred inside him. Feelings he had never felt before, feelings he had feared to feel them. He was worried for this girl and he didn’t know why.

And it seemed as if the gods had plans for them, because their next encounter was as dramatic as the first one. It was a complete coincidence that he was at the base that night. Winn spotted an intruder and they thought it wouldn’t be that important, but after seeing the footage and noticing the posture of the stranger, how she had her hands on her hips, he knew that was Marley and went out to get her to the base. When he found her sprawled half under the sand with a two headed desert rattlesnake ready to bite her, an unfamiliar fear gripped at his insides. He hadn’t seen any of these vipers for the past two years. He had personally killed them all. The venom from those ugly reptiles was the poison that had killed his father. He would kill any of them on sight and tonight, one had appeared just to take another precious life, but he wasn’t going to stand aside and allow it.

And afterwards, he had to hide himself from her. She had seen her up close and had heard his voice. Obviously he was irritating her, but he didn’t care. The fewer people knew him, the better. Literally anyone who knew his true identity would die, like he was cursed. Almost everyone, J’onn knew and he was still alive. For now anyway, he thought.

He wanted to object J’onn’s decision on sending Marley on a mission with him barely a day after meeting her. He had to admit she had a fire in her that no one could put out and if they denied, he knew she would go to Cor-Gan herself and beat him senseless to find out about her sister’s fate. So he thought it would be better for him to be there to prevent her from doing something stupid again. The girl had a talent for getting into trouble like a magnet.

And so they waited for Cor-Gan in the shadows patiently and followed him to his luxurious mansion. Mon-El observed her at length in their long wait. She was fidgeting with her lips and fingers the whole time, trying to stay focused, totally normal for a rookie. What bothered him was all the small things he had seen until now. How she had wounded two of Kus-Gar’s huge men, how she sneaked up in the VIP section and how she was hiding perfectly in that ally. Marley may be a beginner, but she seemed to know her way around these stuff. He was completely conflicted about trusting her.

 _Why did J’onn agree to this?_ That was his only thought as they lurked in the yard to find their way into the mansion. He had a bad feeling about this.

Finding the servants’ door was easy. The hard part was avoiding the cameras which hadn’t shut down with the others since they weren’t fed on the same power source. Marley threw one of the micro emf bombs – skillfully he had to admit – near a camera they couldn’t avoid on their path and they managed to get themselves in front of the door with no further obstacle.

Mon-El quickly knelt in front of the door, placed a device on the lock, fiddling with it for a few seconds and got them inside without making any noise.

They stepped in the narrow and dark corridor. When the door was shut behind them, the silence engulfed them. Lurking forward with light steps, Mon-El kept all his senses in high alert as he walked in front of Marley. Gradually, he heard some faint sounds while passing by the doors on their way. Some snored behind the door. It was a sleeping room for slaves. A baby was crying but turned quiet shortly. They continued to reach the end of the corridor where there was a stair case, leading them upstairs.

They sneaked into the back rooms and carefully got closer to the living room, where the lights were still on and indicated that Cor-Gan must be there. Staying hidden behind a marble pillar, Mon-El and Marley peeked at what Cor-Gan was doing.

The drug smuggler was growling at a poor lone servant who was pouring him more wine, while sprawled on his luxurious, golden couch.

“You filthy WORM!”

He spat at the shivering slim slave who had spilled the wine a bit while pouring it into Cor-Gan’s glass because it was shaking in his drunken state. Mon-El was disgusted to see the slave was only a boy no older than thirteen. He gripped his knife tighter in anger.

They both waited for a few more minutes, until Cor-Gan dismissed the boy with more insults to his ancestors and seemingly wanted to get himself to his bedroom with unstable steps.

The second the boy left the room, Mon-El moved out of the pillar’s shadow, Marley at his heel. They followed him upstairs in the hallway that his bedroom was located in. He approached the over grown man from behind and gripped his shoulder harshly, throwing him back so he hit the ground on his back with a groan, completely baffled.

“WHAT THE HELL? WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU?”

He seemed less drunk. The shock of falling had brought him a bit back to consciousness. Without saying a word, Mon-El dropped his weight on Cor-Gan and straddled him to restrain his movements. He then extended his hands towards Marley.

She put the syringe in his hand promptly. Cor-Gan was about to shout for his guards when Mon-El stabbed the drug into his neck and silenced him. He choked for a few seconds and went limp, his eyes rolling back into his tick skull.

“Why did he faint?” Mon-El heard Kara whisper near his head worriedly.

He stood up and let his hold on Cor-Gan go, before answering. “It’s temporary.”

Mon-El slapped Cor-Gan a bit harder than was needed to and his eyes snapped open, unfocused as if he wasn’t aware of their presence.

Mon-El turned to Marley and nodded. She could start her questioning now.

“What is your name?”

“Cor-Gan son of Sil-Gan” he answered robatically.

“Who do you work for?”

“The Beasts.”

“Where is Lexie Danvers?”

“I don’t recognize that name”

Mon-El heard Marley gritting her teeth before trying again.

“A tall woman, brunet, brown eyes, recently joined the Beasts.”

“I don’t remember such a person.”

He saw Cor-Gan’s right eye twitching a bit. Was he actually fighting off the serum?

“Always wears black, has an old bike, neck length brown hair –“

“I don’t know this person.”

Cor-Gan denied again a bit choking on his words. Marley grunted in frustration and Mon-El nervously checked his watch and decided to interfere. They were running out of time slowly. Only 20 minutes left of their window of safe escape.

“Where is your base?” Mon-El put his heavy boot cladded foot on Cor-Gan’s arm and pressed harshly. He squirmed harder.

“No… Down the ….Ugh… NO…Hangar… South… Beasts… Ships…”

And he passed out again.

“What did you do?!” Marley hissed at him.

“He was resisting the drug. We can’t pull out anything else from him. Let’s move him to his bed and leave.”

“I will not leave until I have an answer about Lexie!”

Mon-El gritted his teeth and rolled his eyes. Why did she had to be so damn stubborn?

“We don’t have time. Only 19 minutes to escape and his passed out for unknown amount of time. We can’t risk it.”

He heard Marley huffing angrily, but gave in at last. They carried Cor-Gan’s heavy weight towards his bedroom. On their way however, they both clearly heard the sound of weak moaning coming from behind a closed door and Marley stopped without a warning.

“Move.”

He coldly ordered Marley, fully aware of what was behind that door. A punished slave - probably in chains – for being disobedient or merely a displeasure to his master.

“Open this door right now!”

Marley had let Cor-Gan go and moved to that door, working with the handle, unsuccessful in opening it and glared at Mon-El so determinate that he knew she wouldn’t let it go.

“We don’t have time for this! Let it go!” He continued dragging Cor-Gan’s limp body alone to his room. Completely annoyed by Marley’s irrational demands.

_Why in the world J’onn sent her with me on this mission?!_

Panting, he saw Marley starting to kick the door, making more noise and the moaning grew louder.

“For the love of all the gods!” he muttered under his breath

He threw Cor-Gan carelessly on the floor and went to open the damn door with his gadgets in a matter of 10 seconds and watched as Marley rushed inside the dark small room towards the small fallen figure in it.

“Hey, Hey… It’s ok. You’re gonna be ok!”

He watched in bewilderment as Marley – that damn annoying girl – drew the young slave girl into her arms soothing her bruised face. She groaned painfully and mumbled incoherently to Marley who was trying to pry open the shackles on her wrists forcefully, even injuring her own hands in the process.

In the dim light emitting form the hallway behind him, Mon-El noticed a small mark on the girl’s right wrist when the shackle came off. A small crescent moon almost hidden beneath the wounds caused by the chains. For a moment he forgot how little time they had and his mind went blank. How could this mark, this tattoo, appear here and on a slave’s body?!

He was driven out of his haze by Marley’s desperate pleas.

“Please stay with me! I’m gonna get you out! Hang on…”

Mon-El felt his heart break as he saw the girl stopped breathing and went limp in Marley’s embrace. Despite all the cold persona he’d created as a mask to even convince himself that he didn’t care anymore about tragedies, he felt a lump in his throat.

They needed to get out of this place. He strode towards Marley and tried to detach her from the unmoving body in her arms.

“We need to go now.” He told her in a softer voice than before.

But Marley didn’t budge. Mon-El could see she was frozen and in shock, her eyes fixed on the girl’s wide open ones. Involuntarily his eye fell on her glossy lifeless eyes and he felt a shiver running down his spine as he saw how her beautiful green eyes seemed so cold, staring at something they couldn’t see. Suddenly memories of his father’s death danced across his eyes changing into flashes of Damo’s beheading, causing his breath getting caught in his throat.

Reaching forward with a shaking hand, he closed the poor girl’s eyes and gently removed Marley’s hands away from the body. She didn’t resist this time and slowly rose to her feet.

Mon-El almost ran to the door, sick to his stomach. Only 13 minutes was left for the fences to come back on. They had to be very fast. No time to even put Cor-Gan back to his bed. If they were lucky, he would wake up thinking he had passed out before even getting to his bed due to being very drunk. As he took fast steps toward the stairs he heard Marley shout at the top of her lungs without a care.

“YOU SON OF A BITCH!”

She was straddling Cor-Gan, punching him mercilessly like a sack of potatoes. For a moment he couldn’t even move. What the HELL was she doing?!

Cor-Gan was awake now. Shouting in pain.

“WHERE IS ALEX?”

Who the freak was Alex?

“WHAT DID YOU DO WITH HER?”

Cor-Gan was defenseless under her brutal fists, not able to answer Marley even if he wanted to.

“SPEAK NOW YOU PISS OF SHIT! WHY DID YOU KILL HER? IT WAS ME WHO BEAT YOU! WHY? WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?”

What the hell was she talking about?! Mon-El heard Marley panting, out of breath to shout anymore. He ran towards them, fearing all the wrecking sounds must have tipped all the guards by now.

“They… gonna get her… in…in the ship… spy…Kryp…”

Cor-Gan was talking!

“WHERE?” Marley bunched his collar in her fists, shaking him violently.

“Two days! UGH! PLeaSe, let me go!”

Mon-El frantically moved to pull Marley away, but she elbowed him hard in the gut, knocking the breath out of him unexpectedly.

“SPEAK! TWO DAYS WHAT?” She demanded.

“IN The Hangar. They ship something top secret in two days! PLEASE I don’t know anything else!”

“YOU-“

Mon-El gripped Marley’s waist and pilled her off Cor-Gan. She kicked, trying to push him away.

“LET GO OF ME!”

Her mask was gone. Mon-El could see the tears staining her cheeks, her bright blue eyes burning with pain, resentment and wrath, blazing like comets descending towards Rao.

“We have to go now!”

“He’s TALKING! Don’t you see?!”

_This girl is unbelievable!_

“If we don’t leave now, we will be captured!” Mon-El tried his best to keep his voice calm. He couldn’t afford to snap now.

“He killed her! I –“

She was ready to go back and start kicking Cor-Gan. Her whole body stiffened and rigid with rage. If he was to be honest, he wanted to beat the crap out of Cor-Gan as well, but he knew, their mission had been a total failure. Their only hope was to get out somehow. There was only 9 minutes left and the guards must be on their way.

He jumped forward to grab Marley’s hand, but she twisted his hand in a practiced move and he had to let her go. He then realized he had only one option left to make her stop and none of them were physical. He reached for his mask and goggles. He cleared his throat once to sound like himself again.

“We need to leave NOW!”

It took her a few seconds, but it worked as he had predicted. Mon-El saw Marley turned around and looked at him. Her eyes widening with surprise.

“YOU!”

“Please! Come now! Trust me!” He pleaded with her, not exactly realizing why he cared so much.

Why would he risk his identity in such drastic situation to save this girl’s life? Why couldn’t he just leave her behind?

He walked towards her and felt for her blood stained hands – Cor-Gan’s and her own blood covering her trembling hands. She didn’t swat his hand away this time.

“He doesn’t know anything else. He’s out and there’s nothing else we can do!”

Marley looked at him in astonishment for a moment. Her bulged out eyes stopped on the door to the cell that held the lifeless body of the slave girl. He gave her hand a squeeze and she looked back at him, nodding firmly.

Mon-El pulled back up his mask and tugged on her hand to make her move and they started running towards the stairs at last. He noticed something shiny on the ground and snatched it hurriedly as they went, thinking it must be one of Winn’s gadgets and shoved it inside his pocket.

Mon-El took the lead again. He heard rushed footsteps climbing the stairs. The best plan was not to engage the guards at all. They were gravely outnumbered. He swiftly pulled Marley towards the dark shadows and pressed her flat and fixed against the wall with his front to her back.

The guards didn’t notice them as they ran messily to Cor-Gan’s bedroom and Mon-El didn’t waste a second to drag Marley away with himself and they successfully got themselves to the servant’s resident part of the mansion, downstairs and ran towards the exit. In the yard they met a much more difficult situation. The fences were back on before their anticipated time. They should have had at least 5 minutes left. Mon-El cursed and turned to face Marley. She had been quiet and he saw doubt in her eyes and maybe fear.

He wanted so much to reach out and touch her hand again, but he stopped himself and decided to give her a firm nod instead.

“Stay close to me. We’ll get to the cut in the fence. We’re gonna get out.”

Mon-El expected her to protest and mock his optimism, but she didn’t and it showed him just how much shaken she was by watching the slave girl die in her arms. Though, he saw then how her expression changed into a serious one and her lips pressed together to form a thin line. Her eyes were sparkling with determination again.

He thought for the hundredth time that night, why had J’onn send her on this mission.

Mon-El moved through the yard and Kara threw another one of emf micro bombs to disable the same camera momentarily and granting them a way across the yard unnoticed for a few seconds. They were in the midway when a group of five guards surrounded them. He spun around and assessed their positions to form the best defense and attack plan, seeing Marley doing the same thing. When he stopped, He felt her pressing her back to his.

“Stand down!” one of the guards shouted.

It seemed like they were done for, being the target of five guns at such short distance. No way they could miss, but that was their mistake. He didn’t know how much Marley knew of hand to hand combat, but he had to make his move now.

“Duck!” He muttered to Marley under his breath and grabbed the barrel of nearest gun, twirling the owner of the rifle around so his front was to his back, making others confused. To his surprise, Marley moved fast, ducking, she swiped the legs of two guards and disarmed them before knocking them out cold with the hilt of the gun she had wielded in the midst.

Meanwhile, Mon-El used the guard in his grip as a shield for a while longer as he fought the other remaining two guards. He then hit the guard in the back of his neck that made him go limp.

Glancing one more time at Marley, Mon-El moved towards the fences almost 6 yards away, before anymore guards could show up.

They stood in front of the fence where they had made a cut in it. The electricity was blocking their passage with glowing blue arcs. They looked at one another for a few seconds listening to the shouts and alarms going off in the mansion, until an idea hit Mon-El. It could work. But before he could tell anything to Marley, he saw behind her giant semi-lizard creature, with the length of about 5 feet, approaching them soundlessly and fast, too fast that he feared it was going to rip Marley’s foot off with its sharp teeth that were glowing ready in the low light from the fence. He didn’t even have to warn her.

Marley though sensed the danger, and unlike the previous time he had seen her frozen in the desert, she jumped away in a prefect summersault and hit the ugly lizard on the head with the rifle still in her hand. Mon-El saw the creature hissing in pain, swinging his strong tail dangerously in anger, rising to attack Marley again. He used that moment to leap forward and hold its head in his arms, locking it’s powerful jaw.

“SHOOT NOW!” He groaned through gritted teeth, his grip getting looser by the second.

Marley cocked the rifle masterfully and shot the squirming creature without hesitation.

Mon-El panted heavily as he let the finally motionless animal fall on the ground with a loud thud. He took a few more seconds to see how Marley was doing and how close were the guards to finding them, before turning to face Marley with a spread arm.

“Give me the emf bomb!”

Marley quickly pulled out her last micro bomb out of her pocket and placed it on his gloved waiting hand.

“We will have only a few seconds to pass through the fence. Trust me okay? You go first!”

Her eyes darted worriedly between the fence and his eyes and only nodded in response.

Mon-El threw the small marble sized metal into the cut and it immediately reacted. Long bolts of electricity radiated momentarily, blinding them and then the section around the cut turned off. He wrapped his hands around Marley’s waist fast and hurled her into the opening, before jumping after her. She landed safely on the other side but he didn’t get that lucky. Mon-El groaned as his left thigh got caught in the line of charged sparks that came back the same moment he was passing. He flopped onto the dusty ground and felt his left leg going completely numb. _DAMMIT!_ They didn’t have time for this.

Then he was startled when he felt Marley’s hand throwing his arm around her shoulder and pulling him to his feet with unexpected strength. He could hear more guards coming. He would only slow them down.

“Don’t-“He tried to pull away from her.

“Shut up and try to use your working leg! We’re both getting out tonight.”

Mon-El could not answer her and focused on using his right leg to spread his weight better, so his weight wouldn’t completely be leaning on her. He wasn’t sure how they managed to get themselves to where his speeder bike was parked, without getting caught. He couldn’t believe Marley could show this much stamina with her slim figure. Clearly he had underestimated her.

“Keys.” He heard Marley ask him as soon as they reached his bike. Only then he noticed, he couldn’t properly drive it with his left foot incapacitated.

“Can you drive?” He wasn’t sure of anything about her then.

“Yes! Give them to me now Kai!”

When she mentioned the name Kai, he snapped out of his hesitation and shoved his hand into his chest pocket to give her the keys.

She helped him on the bike quickly in reversed positions compared to when they had arrived and Mon-El saw with astonishment as Marley started his bike and drove them out of its hiding place.

As soon as they reached the main road, they heard a few vehicles following them. They were catching up to them fast and with the two of them on his speeder, it couldn’t go any faster. Mon-El knew it was time to use his last trick.

“Hold on tight!” He shouted into Marley’s ear over the loud sound of engine, the strain on it obvious.

He didn’t wait for her response as he pulled his hand forward to push the small button under the left handle and grabbed onto her waist with his other hand harder.

He heard Marley gasp as the special chemicals hit the engine, causing their speed to triple suddenly, the drag pushing them backwards violently. They lost Cor-Gan’s guards in matter of few minutes.

When they reached the outskirts of the desert outside Telos, Marley slowed down.

“Follow that star.” Mon-El told her while pointing at a bright star in the south-west, assuming she had lost directions to the DEO base.

“I know.” She answered tiredly. She sped up a little, leaving Mon-El to wonder why she had slowed down in the first place. In fact, Mon-El was feeling completely confused about Marley, and suspicious. 

After about an hour, when they were proceeding on sand hills slower than his likening, Marley finally broke the silence.

“em, Kai? What was that?”

“Hmmm?”

“What was that creature that attacked us?”

_Really? She is curious about that?!_

“Oh, that was a Sabata. Rich people use them as pets or for guarding their property.”

He felt her only nod. Her shoulders had been tense ever since their escape. He knew she had many more questions. Sabata was nothing compared to them.

The bike suddenly stopped.

“What –“

“Oh, shoot! I forgot. We’re in the two mile radius from the base. Nothing works in that circle. We have to walk the rest of the way.” Mon-El sighed and tried to get of his bike, but his darn left leg didn’t complied and was about to fall into the sand. Fortunately, Marley’s arm prevented that and once again he found themselves with her dragging him to walk. He was embarrassed. This had never happened before. Then he remembered that they had to take care of the bike.

“Hey, we need to hide my speeder first.”

“I’ll do it.”

Marley gently let him sink down to the sand, as she strode to the bike and pushed it around with difficulty to hide it behind the nearest rock. Meanwhile, Mon-El twitched his left leg constantly and felt a bit of sensation coming back to it.

“There’s a cover in the sack on the rear. Cover the bike with it.” He told Marley as he tried to get up to his feet, limping towards her.

“Hey, I take care of it. You can rest.” Marley protested when she saw him approaching.

“It’s fine. My leg’s better.”

After making sure the bike was perfectly hidden, they headed towards the trap door where only Mon-El knew its exact location.

“So what will happen now?” He heard Marley speaking up again.

“We have to check out that hangar in two days. He talked about a shipping. Maybe Lexie is there.”

“No… I meant with Cor-Gan. Will they look for us?” He felt rather than hear, the dread in her tone.

“Maybe. You shouldn’t have beaten him!” Mon-El snapped at her, groaning as his feet wasn’t flexing fast enough for him to walk and he wobbled. He saw Marley reaching to help him again, but pushed her hand away.

“No, I can walk just fine.”

Marley’s shoulder slumped and backed off.

“I know I messed up… I’m trying… but when I saw her…”

Mon-El heard her whisper and his heart clenched as he remembered her death again.

“There’s nothing we could do for her. The only way is to put an end to the system and that’s what we’re trying to do. But you perfectly knew that we wanted him to be in one piece so when he woke up he wouldn’t suspect anything happened!”

“YOU said he was resisting the drug!”

“Yes, but he would probably never remembered tonight if it wasn’t for your unchecked temper!”

They glared at each other for a few seconds and then started walking again in silence.

“Who’s Alex?”

Mon-El saw her stiffen.

“What?!”

“When you were beating Cor-Gan, you asked about someone named Alex.”

“Uhh... It…You must have heard wrong. I don’t remember saying that name.”

_Clever Marley. I know you’re hiding something._

Mon-El let it go, too tired to persist any longer. He could push her tomorrow. They had reached the base.

 

*

 

After settling in and giving their reports to J’onn, Mon-El watched Marley leaving for her room to rest. He on the other hand had one more thing to do.

He looked at the device in his hand again – The object he had picked as they were running away in Cor-Gan’s mansion. He recognized it as Marley’s weird communication device. The same device that was costing her life that night in Moon River. After the events of tonight, he wanted to figure out what Marley was hiding more than ever. She didn’t seem to be exactly who she was letting on.

“Winn.”

He called their tech expert as soon as everyone had left.

“Ah, hey Valor! Glad to see you in one piece. That must have been a narrow escape!”

“Yeah almost.” Mon-El answered coldly, causing Winn to retreat into his fidgeting state.

“Yeah, um… how can I help you?”

Mon-El gave him Marley’s gadget.

“I want you to know what information this device holds. Do what you must do to break its encryption.”

He then turned around without any more explanation, leaving Winn with the look of total surprise on his face.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! hope you liked this chapter. It took me almost a month and a half to write it because of a freaking writing block! Sorry if you see mistakes. I was really busy and edited this too fast.  
> Unfortunately I can't promise when I will be updating again since I'm moving to Germany for my master's degree in exactly two days and I wanted to update this before leaving.  
> I have no idea how my schedule is going to be like till I get there. Hopefully I'll update the next one in less than a month. Don't worry. I have plans. Next chapter will be in Mon-El POV as well!
> 
> p.s: @Sunflower_Nation did you see it?;)


	11. Night in Gale

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mon-El and Kara have to put their brains together in order to infiltrate the Beast's base hangar and find out where Alex is and what is that mysterious shipping. Will they be successful?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I can't even begin to tell you how sorry I am for leaving for three months! I only can redeem myself by giving you the longest chapter I ever wrote. 7.8k! Don't want to keep you waiting so enjoy. Forgive me if you see mistakes, I was in a bit rush to update this before the holidays are over.
> 
> This chapter is in Mon-El's POV

Mon-El bounced on his left leg a few times and made sure that there were no more lasting effects from the electrocution. He then looked at his watch as he entered Moon River through its main doors, around noon.

“Oh, hey BOSS!”

He heard Dana calling him as soon as he neared the bar.

“Hey Dana. So, everything ok around here?”

“Yes, things are good. Except your new girl hasn’t been around for two days.”

“My new girl?”

“Marley Danvers? The girl you told me to hire her sooner than the trial period?”

“Oh that girl. She’s not my girl!”

Mon-El gave Donna a fake smile and waved his hand.

“She... eh... she asked me to have a few days off so she can attend to a personal matter. I gave her the permission.”

Donna narrowed her eyes at him.

“Then why didn’t she check in to tell me that?”

“Emm…It was a family emergency and she ran into me the other they and informed me, but I had to go in a hurry and couldn’t find the chance to tell you.”

Dana only huffed and stared at him in silence. She didn’t get intimidated by him that easily like she used to. Sometimes Mon-El feared Dana was getting suspicious.

Mon-El straightened his collar and cleared his throat to sound more authoritative.

“Well, if that’s all, you’d have to excuse me. I have some business to attend to in my office.”

Dana sighed and dropped her eyes.

“Yes that was all. I leave you with your business.”

Mon-El nodded and strode towards his office. He went straight for his desk and opened a drawer. He reached for the hidden compartment beneath it and drew out a small piece of paper from amongst other valuable secret documents he had put there. On it, only a sign was visible. A crescent moon. He held it in his hand and stared at it for long minutes, biting his lower lip.

 A Memory flooded his mind.

_It had been almost a year since Mon-El had left the palace, never imagining he would return. Yet here he was back in the same room where his father had died in his arms._

_He walked to the late king’s luxurious huge desk and searched it for any valuable documents. Damo and some other rebellion members had trained him well in the art of stealth, breaking and entering. Of course his old habits in sneaking away and shenanigans around the palace from childhood had a part in helping him improving so fast._

_They perfectly knew that the queen would raid and claim anything his father owned to find anything about the Rebels, but there could be still some stuff her pawns might have missed and Damo had told Mon-El that his father had been collecting information on something very important in connection to the Dominators that he wouldn’t even share with the Rebels and with him gone now, they needed to know what it was about._

_Looking carefully around the desk, he spotted a craftily hidden button and pushed it. A small drawer jumped out, making Mon-El’s heart rate spike._

_He hurriedly went to look into it and saw only one thing in it. A small piece of paper with the shape of a crescent moon drawn onto it. He heard footsteps and pocketed the small piece quickly before running to the window where his rope was ready for him to climb down._

And even with so much time passed since the day he had come to own this document, he was no closer to understand what it could mean. Seeing the tattoo on the slave girl had confused him even more. Maybe this was just a coincidences? Why everything had to be so sophisticated? Why couldn’t his father have written a word or a clue hinting what this sign meant?

Mon-El exhaled with frustration and put the small paper back where it was. He only wanted to see it again to make sure it had no extra details he might have forgotten about, wanting to know if the tattoo on the girl’s wrist was the same as this mark and it was. But nothing was clearer even now. If anything, it all seemed far less meaningful. Maybe they were not the same things at all. He had only glanced at that tattoo for a few seconds after all.

After closing the drawer back to its previous state, Mon-El busied himself with some work – mostly Moon River related – and then he checked Marley’s background once more. Nothing seemed different from the first time he had checked. She and Lexie had come from a planet called Earth where they had yellow sun and were stranded here for a few years. He gave up on his search when he couldn’t find anything else and spend some more time on his club related business. Checking the payments, signing some forms to order new furniture for one of the VIP rooms after one of the costumers had accidently scorched them during the Garata Fest, answering some calls and so on.

By afternoon he returned back to the DEO base with few half ideas on how to break into that abandoned hangar in two days to find out about this big shipping. It seemed like one of the hardest missions he was going to plan yet.

He found everyone in the main room silently watching the only existing map of the hangar and its surroundings, all deeply in thought. Mon-El glanced at Marley, observing her defeated posture. She seemed much more stressed than usual. She must have noticed her device was gone by now. Or was she still struggling with her feelings over the death of that poor girl? What secrets was she keeping from them?

Just as his gaze lingered on her, she raised her head meeting his eyes as if she felt the weight of his stare. Eyes which weren’t covered by his usual goggles and mask anymore. Mon-El turned his eyes sideway quickly and cleared his throat. J’onn was the first to greet him.

“Oh, good you’re back.”

“Do we have a plan?”

“Well…”

J’onn looked at Winn and he fidgeted with his lip before answering.

“No… eh…We don’t have a plan.”

Mon-El took in the sight of his messed up hair and tired eyes. He seemed to have pushed himself too hard this time.

“Why not? Don’t they have a hole in their security system? There must be something. There’s always something.”

“Not this time. I can’t find anything.”

Mon-El walked over to the table and looked at the maps for some minutes. How could Winn not find a way in? He had never disappoint them.

“They use a very sophisticated scanning matrix system on the area. It has to be from another planet. It can detect a fly passing from two kilometers away. I don’t have anything to defy or mislead this level of technology.”

Winn explained as if he sensed their confusion.

Marley put her hands on the table.

“What other options do we have? We can’t just barge in there and say we are lost tourists around here. That would be too suspicious.”

“No we can’t.” Mon-El agreed still keeping his eyes on the hangar that looked more like a fortress than an actual hangar. It was obvious they were trying to hide things there. This was the core operation base of the Beasts. He had never paid too much attention to their activities until the recent year since they had started meeting more royals in secret and even her mother that drew his attention to them. Only a few years back they were merely drug and slave dealers. Now they seemed to be working on something much bigger and no one, not even that bastard Cor-Gan had a clue what was going on. That was why they needed an insider and Lexie risked going amongst them. A mission that seemed to have failed.

“What are you thinking?”

J’onn’s question made him realize he had been staring wordlessly at the maps for too long. He sighed, knowing well what he was about to say would sound not very smart.

“We need to get Cor-Gan.”

“WHAT?”

As he expected, Marley was the first to react. Winn was the next.

“Cor-Gan? Wouldn’t that be impossible now? He must have tipped the Beasts by now.”   

“No, he wouldn’t. Telling his boss on his loose tongue would only bring him a very painful death. He’s not that stupid. I think he’s made it all look like a heist to make himself the victim and get away with it. He knows what happens if the Beasts find out what he has told us.”

No one argued with him after that until J’onn stepped forward.

“So what’s the plan?”

“We need to go to Garata Head for a drink tonight.”

He heard behind him Marley groan.

*

The loud music was booming in his ears, making Mon-El squint. He ran a hand through his spiky dark hair, making it look more wild. He was wearing something he would never normally wear. Dark tight pants and a tight shirt completed by heavy chains around his neck. Without his glasses and the dark make up he had around his eyes, he was no longer Kai Rand – the highly respected club owner that everyone knew. By no means he was happy with his looks, but it was all for the show and his disguise.

He walked through the overcrowded bar and was half aware how Marely was shifting uncomfortably on her legs to his side. After explaining his plan to others, Marley had finally told them about her first encounter with Cor-Gan and why she was fired from Garata Head and now he could feel her unease and stress to be back here and meet the same guy whom they had been trying to run away from only a night ago.

He tried to calm her before going into action.

“No one can recognize you here, relax.”

“I’m not worried about that!” Marley glared at her a bit, and pulled at her dark leather jacket. With her hair running wild and dark make up, she looked nothing like the innocent waitress she always was. She actually seemed a lot more intimidating than usual. A whole different person. Mon-El found himself staring at her fiery blue eyes for a moment. He quickly blinked and tried to focus on their mission.

“Then what’s making you fidget? It’s annoying and distracting.”

“First of all I’m not fidgeting, it’s because this dress is very uncomfortable! Second, I still can’t imagine how this plan of yours is going to work.”

In order to make her words decipherable over the loud music, Marley was leaning towards him, shouting into his ear. Too close that her cheek was almost touching his and he felt his heart beating faster against his ribcage without his consent. Why the hell he couldn’t get his senses under control? He never had problem like this on his missions or around girls in general. Something about Marley was affecting him and he came to realize that he didn’t like it at all. He couldn’t afford to be distracted on missions.

Mon-El gripped her arm to bring her closer again and put his mouth close to her ear.

“Stop complaining. This is the only way and you know it. I thought you would do anything to find your sister.”

Mon-El snapped at her through gritted teeth and she pulled her arm out of his hand, still glaring. To his relief she didn’t argue and looked away with her lips pressed together.

They proceeded to the bar all the while keeping their eyes open to spot their target. Despite Marley’s disbelief that Cor-Gan would not come to this place barley a day after the events of last night, it turned out Mon-El knew better when it came to thugs like him. Marley had admitted this fact more or less by uttering “oh” after they saw Cor-Gan’s fancy car parked outside the Garata Head.

They stood watching Cor-Gan’s movements, waiting for him to head to the place where they wanted him to be. The only place where his bodyguards wouldn’t be near him.

“Drink this.”

He offered Marley a drink after a while, thinking a drink would take her edge off. She was standing too tense with her arms fold. He needed her ready and at ease for what was about to come.

“Are you serious?”

Mon-El rolled his eyes at her respond. Why she had to be like this all the time?

“Come on. Just one shot to make you more relaxed.” When he saw her still looking at him with anger in her eyes he continued. “You look suspicious if you’re gonna stand here like this without a drink.”

Mon-El kept her stare for long seconds, giving her his most charming convincing smug look, the one every girl would fall for. She squinted at him.

“I don’t think so.”

He swirled the drink in front of her enticingly. “Are you scared?”

As he predicted that made her react and grab the drink from him.

“What is this?”

“Aldabran rum.”

“This is too strong for …”

He couldn’t hear the rest of her response over the loud screech of the singer. The loud cheers and screams put a stop to their conversation and Mon-El noticed that Marley still hadn’t drunken her shot.

“Suit yourself.” He clung his own glass to hers and gulped it down in one go.

He had to admit the drink was strong as she had pointed out, but he had a high tolerance for alcohol and therefore didn’t lose his focus. He saw Cor-Gan moving away to another part of the bar that couldn’t be seen from where they were standing. He tugged on Marley’s sleeve.

“Care to dance?”

“Kai this is not a –“

“As I know, you saw him move. Let’s go to the other side.”

Why didn’t she get his indications and assumed all his actions were to have fun?

She then didn’t resist and followed him to join the crowd of happy drunk, crazy people who were moving around with no harmony.

“You call this dancing!?”

Mon-El heard her snort and turned around to face her.

“Why you dance any better on your planet?”

“You bet we do!”

“Then show me.”

He saw her biting her bottom lip. “It’s not the time, I …”

Mon-El saw a couple coming towards them too fast and reacted without thinking by pulling Marley close to himself to avoid the collision, instead he felt her body collide with his and his hands came up to wrap around her waist instinctively to prevent her from falling. She pulled back almost immediately and Mon-El dropped his hands. Her blush was visible even under the colorful flashes that was lighting up this dark place. He couldn’t stop looking at her brilliant blue eyes that were looking back at him questioningly. _Comets_. He felt his own heart beating fast again. Was he blushing too? This was so embarrassing and awkward.

“We… We should move.” Marley said not meeting his eyes and dragged him so others wouldn’t keep bumping into them.

They didn’t try to dance as they simply crossed the dance floor to the other side. No one cared to give them a second glance or was nor were they in the right mind to notice they weren’t even pretending to dance.

“Look, he’s going there.” Marley suddenly nudged his arm and Mon-El saw Cor-Gan moving towards the toilets with his two bodyguards. It was the show time.

He turned to Marley with a serious face.

“You ready?”

She nodded firmly and waited for him to start with his plan.

*

Mon-El had been wasted so many nights in his previous life as the prince and had seen so many drunk people in his life that acting like one was not the hardest thing in the world for him to do. His only worry was for Marley to act like a convincing girlfriend. He prayed to all the gods that this mission didn’t end up like other situations when Marley was involved in them.

They approached the toilets with Marely helping him walking. He had a lazy hand around her neck while she was gripping his waist firmly as he pretended to drag his feet unsteady and his head lolling on his shoulder.

“Heyyyyyyy…” He snorted and hiccupped.

One of the bodyguards stepped forward.

“Move away.”

“OwWw… that’s a... fanCy GuUuun!” He giggled and faked another hiccup.

“I said move away.”

“Please sir! He’s not feeling well. He needs the bathroom.”

He felt satisfied with the desperate tone Marley had used.

“ohh come on babe! I still feel the vibe! I’m –“

He swung his free hand towards the dancing crowd, giving his hand an appropriate shake before jolting himself forward to pretend he was about to throw up.

“OH NO!”

Mon-El heard Marley gasp as he dropped himself down near the bodyguard’s feet and he stepped back.

“Please! Can’t you see?!” He felt her hands gently touching his shoulder.

“Please let us use the toilets! He’s gonna be sick!”

He kept his focus on coughing pretending another vomit.

“Babe I don’t feel so good” He mumbled loud enough for the guards to hear.

“Do you really wanna see vomit all over this place?!”

He had to stop himself from smirking at her demanding tone.

“Please…”

Even with his head down in a crouched position, Mon-El felt his heart clench when he heard her pleading voice. And then –

“Alright fine! Just be quick or I’ll come and drag you out!”

“Thank you!”

“Let me see your pockets first!”

The guards searched them for weapons quickly and after finding none, Mon-El felt Marley’s hand wrapping around his waist again and pushed himself up to stand. He kept his act until the last second before they entered the toilets.

Just as the door shut closed behind them, they looked back at each other smiling.

Their target was standing on the other side of that dirty smudged small space with his back to them. Mon-El couldn’t help feeling smug as he imagined how Cor-Gan would react if he knew they were the same people who kicked his butt from last night.

“I thought I said no one should walk in while I’m here.”

“I bet you did.”

Mon-El answered him and pulled out his knife from its hidden place in his boots to put it on his chubby fat neck.

“Wha-“ Cor-Gan gasped.

“If you make a sound I’ll cut right through you.”

Mon-El put a bit more pressure on his knife, feeling satisfied how that made the douche bag go still under his hand. He deserved feeling this fear after what he had done to that poor girl.

“Remember us?”

Mon-El made Cor-Gan turn and face him and Marley. He gasped and gazed at them with one bulged out eye. His face was covered with a cream to keep the dark bruises there hidden, but even that wasn’t enough to hide the inflated black eye Marley had given him. Though Mon-El was far from happy about how their mission had gone south last night with Marley’s impulsive behavior, he couldn’t deny that he felt like Cor-Gan deserved every bit of it.

“You!”

“Keep your voice down!” He hissed at Cor-Gan, pressing the knife threateningly to his throat.

Mon-El knew they only had a few minutes left before the guards would come inside to check on their boss so there was no time.

“You are going to take us to that hangar tomorrow.”

“What the hell –“

“We don’t have time for this”

Marley moved forward with raised clenched fists.

“You are going to take us inside that hangar with your car and you access code or you will die.”

“Why the fuck should I do what you say? I can just call my guards!”

Mon-El shoved him towards the filthy tiled wall and he groaned.

“Because if you don’t, the Beasts will find out the information you gave out to us and you know what happens to the loose mouths.”

Mon-El paused and stared coldly into his little dark fearful eyes, trying to make his words most effective.

“You’d wish we had killed you instead.”

He watched how the fear clouded Cor-Gan’s one good eye and then dropped his head in defeat.

*

Mon-El parked his bike in its usual hiding place in the desert. He had its tank full and the special chemical which they had burned in their run from Cor-Gan was reinstalled.

They were ready for tomorrow.

They walked in silence back to the DEO base just like the last night, both deep in thought. They shared the details of their mission with J’onn and Winn and worked on their plan, before going to their bunkers for sleeping.

They were heading outside the main room when Mon-El heard Marley calling after him.

“Hey, Kai?”

Mon-El waited for her to talk. She seemed more frazzled than normal. Gods was this about their dance or rather their none dance?

“I wanted to ask… have you seen my holo device?”

“The what?”

Inwardly Mon-El sighed and congratulated himself on keeping a very indifferent face as he pretended to not understand what she meant.

“You know _that_ communication device I had _that_ day.”

Mon-El didn’t lost the way she rolled her eyes, probably to herself, when she referred to _that day_.

“Oh you mean your shiny round gadget which nearly cost you your life and me a whole set of expensive furniture for the VIP room?”

He smirked as his dark sarcasm caused her to frown, making an adorable crinkle form between her eyebrows.

“Yeah _that_.”

“No, sorry. I don’t think I’ve seen it around.”

He saw her shoulders slump and her frown turned into a disappointed, nervous look. He couldn’t believe that he actually felt guilty for keeping the truth from her. He always prioritized his gut feelings when it came to trusting people and he knew there was something undeniably suspicious about Marley. But this time he was confused. A part of him didn’t want to trust her yet another part of him cared about this girl.

What the hell was happening to him? There was no time for being sensitive.  

“Ok. Just let me know if you found it.”

“Yeah sure.”

Mon-El watched her leave the room before going to check on Winn just like the night before, needing to know what he had found so far.

“Winn.”

He called when he entered his office, seeing him still busy sitting in front of three monitors, typing something fast. He was always a night owl especially when he had something serious to do.

“Winn.”

He didn’t seem to have heard him at all even after two times, too lost in his work.

“AHHH!”

Winn fell out of his chair when he suddenly saw him standing next to his chair.

“Jeez at least make a sound!”

“I called you two times.”

“You did?!”

“Yeah, sorry.”

Mon-El helped Winn to get back onto his chair. He knew that he did act all bossy around Winn. Nothing personal, just didn’t want anyone to get close to him, but at that moment he hated to be too hard on Winn. He could say that Winn was the closest thing he had to a friend and he was irreplaceable.

Winn composed himself finally and turned to face him worriedly.

“What can I do for you?”

“About that device I gave you last night.”

“I’m so sorry, but its firewall is like nothing I’ve seen. I need more time to... ”

Winn dropped his head, making Mon-El to cut his words.

“No of course I don’t expect you to quit all your other responsibilities just to hack that device. I was just wondering if you looked at it.”

Winn raised his head with wide eyes, too amazed that Mon-El wasn’t too serious with him for a change.

“Yeah, yeah! I did try to break the encryption, but it looks very alien, I mean I know it has to be alien, dah! But it was more alien than you would expect and the material of it is also alien and by alien I mean …“

Mon-El sighed as he let Winn babble on for a while.

“… and I’m working on breaking its firewall which looks like something only Dominators can pull off.”

“You said Dominators?”

“Yes, but I mean there are other civilizations in the galaxy that are capable of making such sophisticated codes. Like Coluans.”

“Do you think you can break it?”

“I have a few ideas.”

Mon-El gave him a hopefully encouraging smile. “Good.”

“May I ask who this belongs to?”

Mon-El contemplated telling him or not.

“Well, if you must know its Marley’s.”

“MARLEY?!” Winn suddenly shout out loud.

“Shhhh.”

“Sorry I meant Marley?” He asked in a hushed voice this time.

“Yes and I see you are shocked as well. How can a waitress from a backward planet come close to possess such an advanced object?”

“Exactly. I mean it doesn’t look like anything more than a simple holo device at the first glance, but when you try to look into it…”

Winn trialed off and Mon-El considered that enough information to intrigue his interest.

“Ok, then you just keep this between us and work on it for now and let me know if you found out anything.”

“Of course, sure.”

Winn nodded to assure him and then Mon-El left him with his coding.

*

As much as Mon-El preferred to do the missions on his own, he couldn’t convince Marley to stay behind. And to make it even worse, J’onn had pointed out that he needed an extra hand for this and in his opinion he and Marley had proved to make a good team. He only had rolled his eyes at him.

And that was the last conversation they had before heading to a random spot outside Telos to meet with Cor-Gan to hide in his car so he could get them inside the Beast’s high security hangar. There were lots of ways this could go wrong. Cor-Gan could sell them out, but Mon-El was counting on Cor-Gan’s cowardness more than anything. He knew if he and Marley were found in his car, the Beasts wouldn’t let him go that easy. That was all Mon-El hoped for. Besides that, all they could do was praying to their gods.

Mon-El sat in the passenger seat, keeping his gun aiming at eye level at Cor-Gan while he rode them to their infamous destination. The plan was for him and Marley to hide in a hidden compartment in the trunk.

When they reached two miles from the hangar, Mon-El ordered Cor-Gan to stop the car and they got inside their hiding place. Mon-El gave Cor-Gan one last warning that if he thought about talking about his secret passengers, he wouldn’t survive the night as their back up were ready to finish him if the Beasts ever let him free.

The compartment was far from comfortable to fit two grown people in it. Mon-El stood by Marley, both looking a bit hesitant wondering who should get in first.

“I should –“

Mon-El started only to be stopped by Marley.

“No, I get in first.”

She moved forward into the trunk without further ado and tucked her limbs close to herself as much as she could to make enough room for him. He gave Cor-Gan a deathly glare from behind his goggles before fitting himself into the trunk. Despite his trying his best not to push too much into Marely, it was too cramped. They were both facing the door.

“Are you ok back there? “

Mon-El asked, worried that she was being crushed behind him.

“Yeah, it’s ok. It’s just a short ride. Don’t worry.”

Mon-El heard her laughing nervously and felt her warm breath on the back of his neck, giving him a goose pumps. He tried hard not to pay too much attention at how their bodies were pressing into each other.

_Keep it together! We have bigger problems right now!_

After what felt like long minutes, they finally felt the vehicle starting to move. The road was bumpy, making them even more uncomfortable.

The closer they got to the hangar, the more anxiety gnawed at his insides. He wasn’t sure what they would find out there or if they would manage to survive it. Suddenly he asked himself why he had even accepted to do this suicide mission in the first place. Had he lost his mind?

Mon-El came to the present as the car stopped. He could feel Marely gasping lightly behind him, she must have been dreading what would come next as he was. The checking point.

They both stayed silent and motionless – not that there was room for even flexing their muscles – until they heard the trunk open above them. They were right under a fake plate made by Winn to go unnoticed under scanning devices.

The guard was only inches above them. Mon-El stopped breathing altogether.

And just like that, the search ended. The plate above them proved to be working, blocking their heat signature. Mon-El thanked Winn for a thousand times inwardly, letting out a long relieving breath. He heard Marley doing the same.

The car started moving again. The second ride was much shorter than the first and Mon-El knew, as they had arranged, Cor-Gan was supposed to park his car in his garage and they would go on from there.

They only had to wait a few more minutes after the car stopped again and the trunk door opened again and two knocks on the board above them signed that it was safe now.

Mon-El pushed up the board and greeted Cor-Gan’s ugly anxious face.

“Ok, I did what you wanted. Now get out and get lost.”

Mon-El reached for the edge of the trunk and unfolded his numb limbs, trying to get out without accidentally kicking or elbowing Marley behind himself. As soon as he stood straight to his full height, towering over Cor-Gan, he glared at him, pulling the front of his coat in his hand.

“You meet us back here in 60 minutes or else you know what will happen.”

Cor-Gan scowled at him with disgust, not wanting to give into him, yet knowing he had no choice. Instead of an answer, Cor-Gan growled in seething and pushed away from him. Mon-El let him go, giving him a dangerous look before turning to see Marley standing behind him.

“We meet in 35 minutes on the other side of the hanger to see the ship.”

Mon-El said, recounting their plan and Marley nodded in agreement. As much as Mon-El didn’t like the idea of them splitting up, he knew well that this place was huge and it would take both of them working apart to cover ground and find Lexie as fast as possible. There were two main buildings they needed to search and they had to meet on the north east side, near the big landing pad to see what the important shipping Cor-Gan slipped was and then return to the garage so that Cor-Gan would take them out the same way they came.

Mon-El saw the flash of worry across Marley’s face. It was a mutual feeling. Neither knew what they would find today. Was Lexie even alive?

Mon-El ran silently in the long shadows created by the setting Rao. The crimson beams had made everything seem like drenched in blood. A fitting color for this place, Mon-El thought. He pushed back the feeling of doom inside him and brought his hand up to activate the thermal scanner device in his goggles which helped him locating people inside the building, even from behind solid walls.

He entered the two story building cautiously. Fortunately most of the members were busy preparing for the landing and only a few guards were around keeping eye on the storage rooms where they were safe keeping their precious smuggled goods. He briefly scanned the two floors, spotting only moving normal individuals. Nothing even close to a captive person. He then turned left on a hallway the moment a guard past by to get into the stairs. If they kept any prisoners, they would most probably be in the basement.

Nothing. His goggles showed him nothing. Mon-El cursed constantly under his breath as he waited for another guard to change position in order to get out of the basement. He kept his gun upright ready to use if needed while praying that he didn’t. A body would mean a disaster.

When Mon-El set foot outside that building, he took many deep breaths, not exactly sure how he succeeded in getting out unnoticed. His thoughts instantly went to Marley and brought his arm up to look at his watch. He had only 5 minutes to meet her, so he picked up the paste. The full darkness served as his camouflage perfectly. He noticed the red heavy clouds that were covering the sky above him accompanied by a chilling wind. He knew what that meant. It was going to be a stormy night.

As he got himself closer to the landing pad he became mesmerized by the sight in front of him, making the rising stress in him momentarily forgotten. The powerful projectors were throwing thick beams upwards to the sky guiding the observers’ eyes gently to lay on the huge, magnificent spaceship that broke from the stormy clouds up above and was descending towards the ground. The first drops of rain started to collide with his mask and he didn’t even blink as he watched the ship softly touching the ground, disappearing behind a cloud of fog that was created in the process, counteracting with heat that was radiating from the ship after moving too fast in the atmosphere. There were shouts and orders for getting ready to greet the new incomers. Mon-El saw a fuel truck nearing the scene.

Mon-El swallowed and started moving again towards the place where he had to meet with Marley. To his relief she was crouching behind the parked vehicle, looking constantly around to find him.

“Did you find anything?”

He asked her as soon as he kneeled beside her.

“I –“

She started to explain, her voice laced with fear, but at the same moments the sounds coming from the direction of the newly arrived spaceship caught their attention.

“- Take her here!”

Mon-El watched in confusion as two guards dragged someone with cuffed hands, kicking and resisting against them closer to the ship.

It was Lexie. There was no doubt in his mind.

He felt next to her Marley tensing.

“We have to save her!”

In her eyes he saw desperation. She knew it was impossible yet she couldn’t stand by and watch her sister be taken.

“We can’t do anything right now.”

He answered with sympathy, gently squeezing her arm to show that he understood. She turned her head away harshly, as if rejected, and looked at the scene before them with clenched fists. Some people had stepped outside the now open doors of the spaceship and were transporting cargo boxes. It was hard to guess what was inside them. Lexie got taken straight inside the spaceship to their utter disappointment without them being able to even form a semi plan.

From the corner of his eyes he saw Marley getting out of their hiding place fast.

“Marley, no!” He whispered shout after her, grunting as he moved to follow her.

_What is she thinking?! Here we go again!_

She was going closer to where someone was talking to who seemed to be the captain of the spaceship. They were standing under a roof, sheltered from the rain, their silhouettes pitch dark against the strong white light of the projectors. Mon-El couldn’t make out much of their faces. They hid behind an abandoned piece of scrapped metal that seemed to be the tail part of a spaceship one day.

“- the fueling would be soon finished sir.”

“Good, we can’t waist time here. Any massages from her?”

“She only expects some good news sooner than later.”

“Well she should know we’re doing our job. The rest is up on them, not us.”

“Of course sir, we inform her of the successful delivery.”

“Tell her it will reach the destination in a five days and remind her that the payment should be wired when we reach Starhaven.”

“Yes sir.”

“Any more surprise passengers for us?”

“No Sir.”

“This is unacceptable! I will see into the recruits when I get back! I want everyone present in the base and a thorough check up. Who was responsible for recruiting her?”

“Eh, it was Dal-Ran sir…”

“Put him in a cell until I’m back.”

“Yes, sir.”

There was moment of silent only filled with the humming of the spaceship mixed with the clattering sound of rain drops, before the ship captain started speaking again.

“But I have to admit they’d be happy about a new compatible subject. A Kryptonian no less. Good job catching her.”

_A Kryptonian?!_

“Thank you sir.”

Someone else came closer to them to announce the fueling was over and then he boarded his ship and in no time everyone started leaving the platform, ready for the ship’s take-off.

Mon-El urged Marely to start moving. They needed to get back to meat Cor-Gan and get out. She shuddered and he wasn’t sure if it was because of anger or the cold freezing wind and rain that had soaked her clothes. He felt wet and cold equally.

The distraction from the take-off helped them get out of their hiding place and they got to the garage without any disrupt.

Cor-Gan wasn’t there.

Mon-El angrily kicked at the floor. Of course that bastard would stand them up. They waited a long minute, each looking at the other thinking of something. Mon-El could hear his heart thumping faster and faster. He knew what they had to do.

He reached into his damp jacket and drew out a gadget that allowed him to open any door and unlocked Cor-Gan’s car door and got into the driver’s seat.

“What are you –“

He cut off Marley’s word as he bent down and opened a box under the dashboard with his knife.

“Get in the car.”

“But –“

“There’s no time! We need to go now!”

“But they’ll catch us!”

“Then we drive faster.”

He let out a breath as he heard the engine igniting. He slammed his door shut and looked around to see Marley finally deciding to ride shotgun.

Mon-El drove with normal speed until they got to the guarded exit doors. He stopped casually, waiting for the guard to come up and check them out. Marley shifted beside him, taking out her gun.

“You hold them off, I open the gate.”

Mon-El saw her perched on the edge of the seat and holding Cor-Gan’s pass key – which he had left in the car – in her other hand. He only had time to nod at her before someone approached the car.

“Leaving so soon Cor-Gan? Thought you wanted to stick around for a drink at -”

The guard stopped talking when he saw Mon-El’s masked face and confusion replaced his cocky smirk.

“Who the f-“

Mon-El didn’t allow him to finish as he shot him in the chest and he dropped. Marley had got out of the car in the meantime and ran to the cubic room where the controls were. Another guard was alarmed immediately and raised his rifle to aim at him. He hurriedly aimed with his own gun but saw the guard falling down before seeing Marely with her own raised gun. She then went to work with the controls.

“Come on, come on!” Mon-El gripped tightly at the steering wheel, willing Marely to open the gates before they were found out.

 After what seemed like minutes the door started to open and Marley was running back to the car. That was when he heard shots.

Marley throw herself in her seat.

“GO GO GO GO!”

 Mon-El didn’t need her to say that. He just stumped on the gas with unnecessary force and the wheels screeched against the ground before they shot outside the still opening gates.

The laser shots followed them and Mon-El kept zig-zagging and never slowed down even after they died away. To his surprise no one followed them and he couldn’t decide if that was a good sign or not. He focused back on the dark road. The rain had stopped, but the fog was obscuring their view. That was then when he noticed some lights on the controls showing red. The damn car was damaged after the heavy shooting. A lot of sensors didn’t work anymore and the engine power was dropping fast.

“Kai!”

Marley’s urgent call was followed by a loud crash. He had missed a boulder because of his momentary distraction. They came to a halt harshly and air bags activated. Last thing he thought of, was why he hadn’t fasten his seat belt.

He wasn’t sure how long he blacked out. A moment or minutes? Regardless, when he slowly started to register his surrounding, he noticed he couldn’t feel the flow of the air and that they weren’t upside down, meaning the car had mostly endured the collision. He pushed against the annoying airbag, groaning at the erupting pain in his ribs and head.

“Marley?”

He called out hoarsely, but no answer came. His head was spinning.

“Marley?!”

When he didn’t feel any movement on her side either, the anxiety settled back in his chest. They weren’t far enough from the hangar. He forgot his pain and struggled to open his door only to greet the freezing cold wind. He ran as fast as he could in his disoriented condition on wobbling legs to the other side of the car and saw the damn boulder had hit the car on the right side.

_Gods no!_

He had to climb over the car to get himself to the passenger’s seat door.

“Marley?”

She was unconscious. He felt his heart drop as he dragged her gently outside, putting her head on his lap and kept patting her shoulder while he tried to take off his glove with his teeth.

“Don’t do this to me!”

He took of her mask and felt for the vein on her neck. He felt a pulse.

“Hey, hey, can you hear me?”

He rubbed at her temples with his thumbs, his eyes searching around for other injuries, but there was no light to be sure of that.

“Ugh…”

“Hey, you’re ok. Look at me.”

She finally opened her eyes, unfocused. Her hand came up to grab at her head and touching over his hand there, moaning a little.

“Where are we?”

“Still on the road. We can’t stay here. Are you in pain?”

“No I’m good.”

She tried to get up, but he held her head in his hands, preventing her.

“Don’t lie to me.”

Mon-El saw a flash of what he put as something between gilt and surprise shadowing her face, which got replaced soon after with her famous crinkle.

“I’m not lying. I’m good enough to run.”

They hadn’t time to argue so he gave up and helped her standing up. It was only then that he noticed that it was pouring again. And the car wasn’t working anymore.

Could this night go any worse?!

He used his navigator to check their location.

“How far are we from the drop point?”

Marley asked and he showed her.

“Two miles?!” She huffed in disbelief.

“We need to move now.”

She nodded and they started jogging towards north, to the location Cor-Gan first picked them up and was supposed to drop them. His speeder bike was there.

They ran as fast as they could under the merciless cold rain. Mon-El kept glancing at Marley, but she never complained or showed any weakness beyond the frown on her face.

It took them about half an hour, but they finally got there. Mon-El still didn’t feel safe. He couldn’t believe they had escaped so easily. Something was off.

He turned on his bike and the headlight was blinding after spending so much time in darkness. He saw Marley standing with her arms wrapped around herself under the rain, dripping and squinting against the bright light. She looked miserable and he knew he didn’t look any better either. The headache was killing him.

“You’re bleeding!”

Marley gasped and walked over to him with her eyes fixed on his head. Mon-El touched the numb throbbing source of pain on the side of his head and when he withdrew his hand he found it bloody.

“No, it’s not bleeding anymore.”

She looked at him somberly and didn’t say anything. Mon-El felt how worried and disheartened she was. He wanted to tell her something. Tell her that they were ok and they’d find a way to save her sister but he noticed a blood stain on her bicep.

“You’re shot!”

He jumped off his bike and reached for her arm. She seemed as surprised as he was.

“Oh, it’s nothing. It’s just a graze.” He reached to touch the wound but she shrank away.

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, let’s just get back to DEO sooner.”

Mon-El couldn’t agree more and decided to trust her on this wound not being serious. He sat back on his bike and Marley came to sit behind him, wrapping her arms securely around his middle. He wasted no more time and sped towards their safe house.

The rain never stopped and it turned into a full thunder storm when they got near DEO. The blinding and deafening lightning bolts with non stop heavy shower ruined their progress and he had stop and find a shelter.

He spotted a rock near them and they crouched next to each other behind it. Mon-El used his speeder’s covers to cover themselves from head to toe.

Mon-El felt the cold to his bones and when he felt Marley shivering next to him, he couldn’t resist and unfolded his arm from around himself, where he was trying to keep it warm and wrapped it around her shoulders, urging her to lean into his side. She tensed a bit at his touch, but a moment later she pressed into him slowly, seeking his warmth. Soon he brought up his other hand and pulled her closer to himself. He knew she must have been too tired when she didn’t complain and only tucked her head onto his chest, trembling slightly.

They sat like that for long minutes, listening and waiting for the thunder to pass. Mon-El found himself listening to her breathing instead after a while. It helped grounding him when his insides were twirling with worry and soon he felt her limbs relaxing in his arms, indicating that she had fallen asleep. Mon-El tried to stay vigilant, to know when the storm was over so they could get back on his bike, but he couldn’t win the battle against the fatigue and before he knew it, his eyelids gave in and dream world welcomed him.

* * *

I'm staring at a broken door  
There's nothing left here anymore  
My room is cold  
It's making me insane  
  
I've been waiting here so long  
But now the moment seems to've come,  
I see the dark clouds coming up again.  
  
Running through the monsoon  
Beyond the world  
To the end of time  
Where the rain won't hurt  
Fighting the storm  
Into the blue  
And when I lose myself I think of you  
Together we'll be running somewhere new  
And nothing can hold me back from you  
Through the monsoon

 

Monsoon (English Version) - Tokio Hotel


	12. Tooth and Nail

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When the truth comes out...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! It's the first day of the 9 week hiatus and I know its not exactly good news but I feel like it's chance for us to use all our gifts and skills to make the most of it and express our support and love in our own way.  
> So here is another chapter of Moon Fortress and this one is VERY IMPORTANT as you will see very soon!  
> I stop now and let you read ;)
> 
> One thing tho; this chapter is back to Kara's POV

Awareness came slowly back to Kara and gently awakened her senses. For a long moment she resisted opening her eyes, until she registered the rhythmic movement beneath where her head was resting. At first she was willing to ignore it. It actually felt soothing, lulling her back to sleep, but then the voice in her head nudged her to question the reason and she finally gave in.

Opening her eyes, Kara had to blink many times until she found out exactly where she was and it stunned her.

Kara couldn’t believe her own eyes as she turned her head and looked at the face right above her head, thinking it might be a fragment of her dreams. She definitely was still asleep, because there was no way she would fall asleep in this man’s arms!

The shock of the reality and memories from last night made her push against Kai’s chest a bit harder than she meant to and felt backwards into the covers behind her, exposing them to the crimson rays of Rao.

“Grife! Did I fell asleep?”

Kara heard Kai groaning while trying to free herself from the thick speeder cover.

“Yeah. I think we both did.”

She stood up hurriedly, praying to Rao that he wouldn’t mention or even remember how they had slept through the storm.

Kai stood up tiredly and squinted against the light. His hand came up to scratch his head and Kara grimaced as he hissed when his hand touched the wound on the side of his head. It looked far more terrible in the light of day.

“Are you ok?”

“Yeah, you?”

“I’m fine.”

“Then let’s get going.”

Kara didn’t object and just followed him to find the speeder bike and by the time they got themselves back to the DEO they felt close to collapsing.

Winn brought them the first aids kit and they started tending to their wounds. To Kara’s surprise they even had a stitching device that looked very familiar.

“Is that –“

“Yeah that was Lexie’s. It’s very handy.”

Winn answered her question before she had even finished it in a pitched and nervous tone that confused her, but she had no time to worry about that when Alex’s alias was mentioned. Kara turned her head only to meet Kai’s gaze. She knew he was thinking the same thing.

“Where’s J’onn?”

Kai asked with stern voice, while cleaning his head injury.

“He had to go out for some personal matters. He said he’d be back in a few hours.”

Kara considered helping Kai with stitching his head wound, but Winn was faster. Maybe that was for better. Kara’s cheeks felt hot as she remembered again the moment she woke up with Kai’s arms wrapped around her protectively and her head burrowed into his chest. She felt so confused. She couldn’t read or interpret it. Maybe keeping distance from him was a smart move. Kara knew well how attachments could ruin the kind of job she was doing.

“We need an express ship to Starhaven.”

Winn looked at him questioningly. “Starhaven?”

“Lexie’s cover is compromised. We saw them boarding her onto the ship and they’re on their way to Starhaven as we speak! We shouldn’t lose a moment because they aren’t going to stay there long and if we miss them, we won’t be able to find her again in time.”

Kai hissed as Winn finished stitching his head and sterilized it.

“Oh, okay but before that –“

Kara watched discreetly, as she was patching up her shot wound, how Winn kept glancing at her and then bent down a bit to whisper something into Kai’s ear.

Something was wrong and Winn wasn’t good at hiding it. To prove her point, Kai and Winn excused themselves shortly afterwards, claiming that they were going to find a fast ship.

She spent the next half an hour walking nervously around and thinking what she had to do. She was losing her wits over Alex’s situation. Part of her was happy that she was still alive, but she also knew it wouldn’t be like that much longer and they needed to go after her soon or else - No she wouldn’t allow that. She could call for back up and -

Kara stopped pasting when she remembered how she’d lost her holo device and her heart started pounding in panic. What could she do? Was there another protocol or means to contact the base?

“Think Kara! Think!”

 She begged herself to recall if there had been anything. There was an escape pod in the same hangar where she first landed on Daxam. Maybe she could find something on it to contact Krypton.

With renewed determination, Kara moved towards the door to find Kai and let him know she was leaving to go get some supplies for their trip and instead go for the secret pod.

But she hadn’t even opened the door when Kai appeared in front of her.

“We need to talk.”

Kara nodded and bit her lip in irritation.

“Sure, but before that, maybe I should go to get some supplies for our trip?”

“No.”

Kara noticed how his face seemed darkened and his voice sounded very strict.

Kara sensed danger. “Okay.”

She nodded and took a few steps back with her eyes searching around the room to form a plan. She spotted her laser gun on the table and tried to step near it subtly.

“Did you find a ship to get us to Starhaven?”

_Keep stalling him Kara._

She swallowed hard when Kai slammed the door behind him and moved closer to her without bothering to answer her.

“Cut the crap Kryptonian!”

Kara felt her heart stop and her ears were ringing manically. What did he say?

“What –“

“Drop the act! I know you’re a spy just like Lexie or should I say Agent B35?! I should’ve known right from the start! I saw the signs but ignored them because I wanted to believe that some good people were actually working here! I was so stupid!”

Kai was rampaging in front of her and didn’t give her a chance to even try denying, even though at this point there was no possibility that he would believe her. He knew far more than he should have.

“It’s not like what you think.”

Kara took a step towards him and tried on last time, but stopped when Kai drew his gun out in a swift motion and aimed at her head.

“Stay away from me you filthy rat!”

Kara gasped and raised her hands to show them empty and calm him. His face was contorted with fury and rage. He looked nothing like the kind Kai Rand who came outside in the sand storm just to find her and let her stay at the club, or the man who was holding her close to himself not that long ago. For some reason Kara felt so guilty for lying to him and it killed her to see how much he resented and feared her now.

“I mean you no harm Kai.”

“I’m the one holding the gun here! So stop pretending to be the smart one!”

“I –“

“Who are you?”

Kara looked at him, pleading with her eyes so he would spare her this interrogation.

“Please I can’t –“

“TELL ME YOUR REAL NAME!”

He shouted and walked closer to press the muzzle of his gun to her head. That was his mistake.

Before he even knew what had happened, she got hold of his gun and was on the other end of it instead. Kai gasped and the look of total betrayal filled his eyes. Kara kept the gun level at him with no intention to actually shoot him and started walking backwards in the direction of the exit.

“I don’t want to hurt you Kai. But I can’t let you know more than you already know.”

“Do you even care what happens to people on Daxam every day?!”

“Yes, I’ve seen it all. I know what you’re going through.”

“NO YOU DON’T!”

This time Kara made the mistake and didn’t act quickly enough when Kai jumped on her. They fought for the dominance over the gun, before their harsh moves send the dangerous object flying to the other side of the room and they started sparring instead.

Kicking, punching, clothes ripping, their shouts and grunts filled the room. Tables collapsing, chairs breaking, they threw each other around, causing their newly closed wound to reopen and adding fresh ones. They matched each other. Where Kara lacked the stamina, she was superior in technique and when Kai couldn’t ward off her quick reflexes, he pounced on her with his greater muscle power.

Kai locked Kara under his weight and spat away the blood gathered in his mouth because of his profusely bleeding nose.

“All You Kryptonians do is ruining what little we achieved in the resistance!”

Kara growled under his iron grip on her hands pressed to the ground over her head and ignored the throbbing pain of her cut lip.

“That’s not what we do!”

“Yeah I’m sure that’s what you believe! You self-righteous, all mighty Kryptonians!”

“You don’t know anything, you egotistical hedonist Daxamite!” Kara kneed him in the groins and over powered him in the moment of weakness. Now she was on top.

Kai looked at her with resentment burning in his eyes. “Shame on me for having mercy on you all those times!”

Kara only had time to glare daggers at Kai, before he threw his head forward and smashed it against hers. The momentum took away her balance and Kara lost her sight for a few seconds. She felt Kai wiggling out of her hold and when she opened her eyes, he was standing above her with the gun aimed at her head again. Kara swiped at the flow of blood from her nose. Her arms felt faint and shivered with exhaustion after fighting so much. She knew she couldn’t pull out another move that would be fast enough like she initially did. Besides, Kai knew better this time and was standing a few feet away.  

“Stay down Kryptonian!”

Kai’s voice was muffled due to the inflation of his broken nose. He’d injured his own nose even further by crashing his head to hers. Kara looked at him from her half sitting, half lying position on the floor and saw him panting heavily and squinting against the pain. Apart from his nose, he had a cut above his left eyebrow and one of his sleeves was torn apart. Kara noticed how he was favoring his side. She must have given him a fractured rib there. He was tired. Maybe as wasted as she was feeling.

But he had the gun now.

“I’m not going to tell you anything!”

Kara finally recomposed herself and gave him her fiercest expression with a clenched jaw and hands balled into two painful fists. She sensed one of her thumbs was dislocated, but didn’t let the sting from any of her injuries seep into her demeanor.

“I will make you talk!”

“I will die before saying a word”

“Then you leave me no choice.”

Kara held her chin high and stared at the trembling gun in his hand, accepting her fate. She knew she shouldn’t give in so easily, but she was out of options and couldn’t think of anything. Her only regret was not saving Alex. Her heart broke when she thought about what ill fate was waiting Alex.

Her eyes then met Kai’s stormy ones. The conflict was evident in them, hate and doubt fighting each other and Kara saw the cracks in his self-conviction.

“KILL ME!”

Kai flinched at her words and held the gun higher and firmer with his brow knitted and his lips pressed together like he was resisting his urge to defy her.

“DO IT!”

Kara punched at the floor. She could see how her insistence was crumbling his resolution by the second.

Kara gasped when Kai’s finger moved to pull the trigger and closed her eyes instinctively and braced for her end.

But the pain never came.

“UUUUGH!”

She opened her eyes and saw Kai heaving in front of her and then threw the gun with all his might at the opposite wall behind Kara like it was a poisonous scorpion.

Kara stared with wide eyes and an open mouth, as his legs gave away and he dropped to his knees in front of her and covered his face with both hands. His upper body rattled violently with disheveled, intense emotions.

For long minutes neither of them moved or said a word. Their physical and mental fatigue had taken its toll on them. Kai had grown calm, but didn’t look at her, like she wasn’t even in the room. They simply sat where they were and kept to themselves.

The shriek of the metallic door broke their eerie silence. They both raised their heads to meet the intruder to their abyss.

The Martian stepped inside with a stoic posture and didn’t seem even the slightest moved by their worn out condition and the level of destruction in the control room.

“I found you a ship.”

Kara looked at Kai who was avoiding the Martian’s eyes and laughed in mockery.

“Aren’t you going to say anything about all this?”

The Martian crossed his arms over his chest and looked at Kara briefly before turning back to Kai. “I don’t need to.”

He then walked over broken pieces of glass and wood to find the only unimpaired chair and sat on it.

“But I do have a question. Are you done here? Because we have more important things to do.”

Kara and Kai both looked at him in disbelief.

Kai turned and glared at Kara after ignoring her for the past 15 minutes. “You mean more important than capturing Kryptonian spies?”

“Yes.”

Kara shrank away when the Martian got to his feet and came to crouch right in front of her and stared at her with glowing red eyes.

“I found out about Alex before you joined us. I knew about you even before you came here and I decided to let you do your job. I see in your mind that you only wish to save your partner.”

Kara gasped at him in utter incredulity. In her peripheral vision Kai jumped up.

“ARE YOU TELLING ME THAT YOU KNEW ALL ALONG AND KEPT IT TO YOURSELF?”

The Martian faced Kai, completely unaffected by his outburst.

“Yes, because it didn’t help our cause.”

“IT WHAT?!”

The ridiculed expression on Kai’s face told Kara that he had passed his limit with his superior at that moment and his eyes had a dangerous lunatic glow in them.

The Martian on the other hand looked as calm as a grandfather, handling his impatient five year old grandson who’s been fussing over someone stealing his candy.

“I know your races have a long standing history in hating each other -”

“That’s the understatement of the century. “

“But you have to see past through that and realize that you both want the same thing.”

“NO WE DON”T!”

“If you stop yelling, I will tell you that you do.”

Kai muttered under his breath and limped to the chair the Martian had been sitting on earlier and flopped on it heavily in defeat.

“Go on then. Enlighten me!”

“We want to know what the Beasts are delivering and how are they connected to the queen. The Kryptonian’s secret services are also working to find out about this unknown deal and sent these agents to uncover that. They’re not trying to disband the Rebels. If anything, they had been helping us. They work against Rhea here and the enemy of our enemy is our friend.”

“I don’t trust her! And why should I risk my life for some Kryptonian who lied to us for a whole year?”

Kara bit the inside of her lip to stop the offensive words she had prepared. She understood what the Martian was saying. They could work together because they had the same goal.

“You don’t need to trust me.” Kara surprised herself by her own voice.

Kai glared at her, but she continued.

“I know you have no reason to trust me, but you should realize that all I want is to save Alex and –“

“And then tell your generals all the details about the whereabouts of the DEO base and us?” Kai snorted and shook his head in disappointment.

Kara swallowed hard and tried to think of a way to explain in a way that wouldn’t reveal much of her mission and could be enough to convince Kai.

“I don’t know what they want with the resistance. Maybe just information on its status. All we know is the possibility that the Beasts are delivering equipment for developing a new weapon which would endanger the galaxy.”

“What kind of weapon?”

“We don’t know.”

“You don’t know or you don’t want to tell us?”

“I’m not lying.”

“I don’t believe you.”

The Martian cleared his throat. “She’s telling the truth.”

Kara finally overcame her tiredness and rose to her feet.

“Look I don’t care anymore about my mission! I just want to save Alex! I don’t even have my holo device which clearly you have hacked it. If you don’t want to help me it’s fine, but please let me go and find a ship. We’re losing time with this pointless conversation.”

“Your best chance is my ship. It will get you to Starhaven in one day.”

Kara couldn’t believe that the Martian was offering her his own ship.

“Th- Thank you.”

“But only he knows how to work with its Martian engine.” He nodded towards Kai who was watching them with an unwavering frown on his face.

“I’m not going!” Kai turned his back to them.

“We still need to know what’s on that ship.” The Martian pointed out.

“I don’t care!”

“You don’t care what Rhea is up to?”

That made him turn around and stare at the Martian with an unusual look.

“Fine I go! But only to see what’s on that ship! I’m not helping you to save Lex- Alex!” he barked at Kara and she decided to take him on his offer.

“Thank you. I know it’s not easy –“

“Save it fake Marley! I don’t want to hear it!”

Kara didn’t retaliate. She knew he had every right to be angry with her. All she could do right then was try not to worsen the situation by bickering with him.

“My name is Kara.”

She thought maybe that could help them communicate easier. Sadly that didn’t make Kai regard her any better and only a grumbled in annoyance.

“You’d better take care of those wounds sooner, before you head for the ship.”

The Martian noted as he watched how they were both limping with bruised bodies and numerous cuts on their faces.

“You don’t say.” Kai mumbled as he walked out of the room and Kara followed him with a sigh.  

_Rao help me!_

_*_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know my updates have become sporadic cause I had a very busy Jan, but now I'm free and try to update more often.  
> Thanks for reading. <3


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